Suitable Habitats of Chrysolophus spp. Need Urgent Protection from Habitat Fragmentation in China: Especially Suitable Habitats in Non-Nature Reserve Areas

Abstract

Over the past few years, the wild population of Chrysolophus spp. has decreased remarkably. Habitat fragmentation is a significant cause for this serious threat to the survival of Chrysolophus spp. population. In order to further understand the distribution of potentially suitable habitats of Chrysolophus spp., we used the maximum entropy model to predict the potentially suitable habitats of C. pictus and C. amherstiae in China based on the known distribution. According to the prediction results of the model, we calculated the landscape pattern index to compare the fragmentation of the two species’ potential suitable habitats in nature reserves and non-nature reserves. The results showed that the potentially suitable habitat for Chrysolophus spp. only accounted for a small area of China. The suitable habitats for C. pictus were mainly in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hubei, and other provinces, and the model predicts a total area of 359,053.06 km2. In addition, the suitable habitats for C. amherstiae were mainly distributed in the three-parallel-river area, with a potential total area of 215,569.83 km2. The model also showed that there was an overlap of suitable habitats between the two species in the western edge of the Sichuan Basin. Previously, hybrids of the two pheasants have already been found in this same overlapping area predicted by the model. The landscape pattern index showed that in the potentially suitable habitat for Chrysolophus spp., the fragmentation of non-nature reserve areas was higher than that of nature reserve areas. The results revealed the distribution of potentially suitable habitats for Chrysolophus spp. in China and highlighted that the suitable habitats in non-nature reserve areas were in urgent need of conservation, thereby providing a key reference for the conservation of the Chrysolophus spp. population in the future.

Nesting Habitat Suitability of the Kentish Plover in the Arid Lands of Xinjiang, China

“…A suitable habitat can facilitate the continued existence of a species, and breeding habitats, in particular, are essential for ensuring population reproduction and recovery [3][4][5]. The scientific management of breeding habitats is crucial for species conservation [6][7][8]. Nesting is a very important stage in the life history of birds, and many studies of avian nesting success have examined nesting habitat characteristics and quality [9,10].…”

Comparative Habitat Divergence and Fragmentation Analysis of Two Sympatric Pheasants in the Qilian Mountains, China

“…Human-related land-use change, i.e., agricultural expansion and urbanization, is rapidly fragmenting the natural ecosystem and causing biodiversity loss, especially in China [2]. Therefore, habitat fragmentation assessment has become crucial in wildlife protection [3]. However, research showed that the reaction of wildlife habitat to climate change and human influence is species-specific, even for sympatric ones [4,5], indicating the necessity to understand how endangered species react to environmental conditions specifically when designing targeted protection strategy.…”