Crane Breeding Habitat In Huihe Nature Reserve Based On Ecological Footprint Environmental Carrying Capacity Discriminant Analysis

The breeding period is an important period for the continuation of wild animal populations,and the Huihe National Nature Reserve in Inner Mongolia(abbreviated as Huihe Nature Reserve)is also one of the important breeding grounds for cranes.To determine the environmental carrying capacity of breeding cranes(red crowned cranes,white naped cranes,and eurasian cranes)in the Huihe Nature Reserve,this article is based on remote sensing images from 2018 to 2022,field surveys during the breeding period from 2021 to 2022,statistical yearbooks,and other data,combined with ecological footprint method,landscape pattern index,MaxEnt model,and other methods.The study focuses on the residents and breeding cranes in the Huihe Nature Reserve,Firstly,the annual changes in ecological carrying capacity and landscape pattern of the protected area in the past five years were analyzed.Then,the MaxEnt model was used to predict the suitable habitat for breeding cranes.Starting from the ecological footprint of residents and the needs of crane breeding fields,the environmental carrying capacity of breeding crane habitats in the Huihe Nature Reserve was analyzed from multiple perspectives.The research results indicate that:(1)During the research period,the changes in land use types in the Huihe Nature Reserve showed a stable trend,and grasslands and reed swamps have always been the main landscape types in the reserve;The shape characteristics of the six patches in the protected area are relatively simple;The diversity and evenness of the landscape within the protected area have not changed significantly,and the overall connectivity has not been enhanced;(2)The average ecological footprint supply of Huihe Nature Reserve from2018 to 2022 is about 33.52 ha/person,and the annual ecological footprint demand is about5.92 ha/person.The ecological footprint carrying capacity is in surplus,with an average annual surplus of 27.60 ha/person;(3)The evaluation results of MaxEnt model have reached an excellent level.The total suitable habitat areas of red crowned cranes,white naped cranes and eurasian cranes predicted in 2021 and 2022 are 7 806.63 ha and 14 895.31 ha respectively,which are mainly distributed in the core area of Windor in Gaolin and the ethnic township of Bayantara Daur in the experimental area;(4)The 12% reed swamp area reserved for the protection of biodiversity in the Huihe Nature Reserve,the surplus area of environmental carrying capacity of the reed swamp,and the suitable habitat requirements for breeding cranes predicted by the MaxEnt model all meet the actual habitat requirements of breeding cranes.After calculation,under the condition of three types of cranes coexisting and their fields being tangent,the ecological environment carrying capacity based on the reed swamp can accommodate at least 27 to 52 pairs of red crowned cranes,white naped cranes,and eurasian cranes.Based on the above results,the Huihe Nature Reserve is currently able to meet the habitat needs of crane breeding well.It is recommended that the reserve restrict grazing behavior in herdsmen’s areas during the crane breeding period to reduce the impact on the crane breeding period.