Summer habitat selection by Mrs Hume’s Pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae) on Jinzhong Mountain, northwest Guangxi, China: implications for determining effective conservation actions using radio transmitters

Abstract

In the present study, summer habitat preference of Mrs Hume’s Pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae) was studied in Jinzhong Mountain Nature Reserve, Guangxi Province. Eight birds were equipped with radio transmitters and habitat characteristics of experiment and control quadrat sites, respectively, were measured. Our results indicated that: 200 m to 400 m distance to habitat edge, less than 200 m distance to water, over 400 m distance to human habitation, over 601 m distance to the road, over 60% tree cover, less than 40% shrub cover, less than 20% herb cover, over 60% leaf litter cover, height of tree over 10.1 m, tree density over 20 individuals per quadrat, shrub height over 2.1 m, shrub density less than 10 individuals per quadrat, height of herb species over 0.5 m, herb density less than 10 Individuals per quadrat, diameter of tree over 30 cm, and abundant food were the habitat characteristics. The elevation, herb density, and height of tree and shrub exhibited no significant differences (), but other factors showed significant differences between quadrat sites and control quadrat plot (). Results of a principal components analysis (PCA) demonstrated that the first five components accounted for 64.282% of the total variance. Food availability in different habitat patches is the vital factor affecting habitat selection by Mrs Hume’s Pheasant; the other factors showed no significant effects on habitat selection by Mrs Hume’s Pheasant in the subtropical forest. This suggests that habitat selection behavior of Mrs Hume’s Pheasant is in fact a trade-off between obtaining food and prey escape, which is an adaptive behavior and a life strategy of this near-threatened bird species.