Wang Bin, Xu Yu, Ran Jianghong
Sichuan University, Key Laboratory of Bio-Resources and Eco-Environment of Ministry Education, College of Life Sciences, Chengdu, China.
Guizhou Normal University, College of Life Sciences, Guiyang, China.
PeerJ. 2017 Jul 5;5:e3477. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3477. eCollection 2017.
Understanding the distribution and the extent of suitable habitats is crucial for wildlife conservation and management. Knowledge is limited regarding the natural habitats of the Chinese monal (), which is a vulnerable Galliform species endemic to the high-montane areas of southwest China and a good candidate for being an umbrella species in the Qionglai Mountains. Using ecological niche modeling, we predicted current potential suitable habitats for the Chinese monal in the Qionglai Mountains with 64 presence points collected between 2005 and 2015. Suitable habitats of the Chinese monal were associated with about 31 mm precipitation of the driest quarter, about 15 °C of maximum temperature of the warmest month, and far from the nearest human residential locations (>5,000 m). The predicted suitable habitats of the Chinese monal covered an area of 2,490 km, approximately 9.48% of the Qionglai Mountains, and was highly fragmented. 54.78% of the suitable habitats were under the protection of existing nature reserves and two conservation gaps were found. Based on these results, we provide four suggestions for the conservation management of the Chinese monal: (1) ad hoc surveys targeting potential suitable habitats to determine species occurrence, (2) more ecological studies regarding its dispersal capacity, (3) establishment of more corridors and green bridges across roads for facilitating species movement or dispersal, and (4) minimization of local disturbances.
了解适宜栖息地的分布和范围对于野生动物保护与管理至关重要。关于绿尾虹雉的自然栖息地，我们所知有限，它是一种易危鸡形目物种，特产于中国西南部的高山区，是邛崃山系伞护种的理想选择。利用生态位建模，我们根据2005年至2015年间收集的64个出现点，预测了邛崃山系绿尾虹雉当前的潜在适宜栖息地。绿尾虹雉的适宜栖息地与最干季度约31毫米的降水量、最暖月约15℃的最高温度以及远离最近人类居住点（>5000米）相关。预测的绿尾虹雉适宜栖息地面积为2490平方千米，约占邛崃山系的9.48%，且高度破碎化。54.78%的适宜栖息地处于现有自然保护区的保护之下，同时发现了两个保护空白区。基于这些结果，我们为绿尾虹雉的保护管理提供四条建议：（1）针对潜在适宜栖息地进行专项调查以确定物种出现情况；（2）开展更多关于其扩散能力的生态学研究；（3）建立更多跨越道路的廊道和绿桥以促进物种移动或扩散；（4）尽量减少局部干扰。
