| Pheasant is one of the most important taxon in birds and China has the richest types of Pheasant in the world.Breeding is the most important part of the life cycle of birds,thence the reproductive biology characteristics of birds and nest site selection is very important for the research of bird species protection.In this thesis,the reproductive ecology of sclateril's monal(Lophophorus sclateri)and blood pheasants(Ithaginis cruentus),which were alpine rare and endangered species,was studied in the breeding season during 2015 to 2016.This research aimed to record the breeding data of the two rare species and to investigate the relationship between the dab population of its own group and their breeding factor.This research provided basic data to the production of Mt.Gaoligong endangered species.The breeding fight behavior and mating flaunt behavior were firstly recorded in the wild during the research.The breeding fight behavior of Sclateril's monal could be divided into flight fighting and ground fighting.The mating flaunt behavior was typically frontal type.Three types,four movements were recorded.Male subadult also had the mating flaunt behavior.Three breeding nest sites of sclateril's monal were found,one of them were reused in 2015 and 2016.According to the data above,the clutch size was(mean ± SD)2.75± 0.5(n=4),the hatchability was 100%(n=11),the lengthy diameter of eggs was 66.32± 1.76mm(n=11),the short diameter was 45.80± 1.49mm(n=11).Incubation was completely done by breeding female.The female had long nest-leaving time.The incubating bird left the nest from once per day to once for two days,or twice per day,the average time of leave the nest interval was 25.69 ?13.79 h(n=43).According infrared cameras and field observation,nestlings of Sclateril's monal had strong precocity,range growing synchronization,the youngs in different nest varied more than a month,The youngs will need at least 2 years to reach sexual maturity.Breeding and mating behavior of blood pheasants were firstly observed by infrared cameras in this research.The video showed that female bird started mating request.10 breeding nest of blood pheasant were found,however blood pheasants had high nest-abandon rate,5 among 10 were abandoned.The clutch size was 5.86?1.07(n=7),the hatchability was 95%(n=41),the lengthy diameter of eggs was 48?2.12 mm(n=26),the short diameter was 32.82?0.75 mm(n=26).Eggs of shall be borne by the female,incubating female left the nest for food once per day.The average time of nest-leaving time interval was 358.5?57.64 min(n=36).Growth of nestling blood pheasant shown by the infrared cameras indicated that the nestling growth was synchronized.July was the rapid growing period for nestling at Mt.Gaoligong,the nestling birds could grow up to very similar with adult's shape and feather color in October,all the birds in the coming year could reach sexual maturity in breeding.According to the data from 6 nests,nest sites selection of Sclateril's monal often at cliff upright surface concave platform.Nests were located in the platform,dug into the oval pit.The pit was oval,close to the rock wall.There was a small amount of hay,the pheasant hair matting in the nest.Size of nesting platform were 67.5?59.5cm,73.5?52.5cm,75.8?31.95 cm(length?width);the distance to the ground was 6.97?1.49 m(n=3).Data from 20 nests of Blood pheasant indicated that nests of Blood pheasant in Mt.Gaoligong located in the edge of the clearing of the small bamboo ridge,stone pier,wood and grass at the base of the shallow cave.Most of the nest the oval shaped pit,there were a small amount of hay,withered bamboo,withered bamboo leaves and a small amount of blood pheasant hair matted,also there were some nests made of hay.In the nest site selection,blood pheasants focus on 4 microhabitat which were the hidden factor,the topographic factor,the nest hole factor and the direction factor.The different nest site selection kept Sclateril's monal and Blood pheasant both breeding in Mt.Gaoligong.The self-limited factors for Sclateril's monal could be concluded into 4 factors which were little number of eggs in the nest,the late sexual maturity of nestlings,the strict nest site selection,the shortage of nest site resources.The rare nest site resource of sclateril's monal caused problems in the breeding time including high nest density in a small range,very competitive of the nest site and the reuse of nest site.Suitable for protecting the nest sites,is particularly important for the protection of Sclateril's monal. |
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