Habitat suitability assessment for the Near Threatened Hume's Pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae) in a new distribution location in southwestern China

ABSTRACT We discovered a population of the Near Threatened Hume's Pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae) in the Ziyun County of Anshun City in 2016. Land and forestry administrators jointly proposed establishing a nature reserve for the conservation of this population. We conducted surveys and a habitat suitability assessment of this pheasant in support of the conservation strategy planning and proposed nature reserve. Our results suggest that this pheasant uses heavily disturbed, open canopy, broad-leaved forests at a certain distance to roads on northwest- to north-facing slopes. It also uses sparse canopy forests on moderate to steep slopes below elevations of 1,050 m near water. The use of heavily disturbed, open canopy forests of this pheasant population is not consistent with reports from the literature. This could be a response of this population to available disturbed habitat. This population may be part of an undiscovered population of the wildlife management units of Guangxi and Guizhou. Understanding habitat requirements of this species warrants further investigations, e.g., genetic tests such as sequencing of mitochondrial DNA to compare with other populations and assessment of its population status, patterns of habitat use, and interactions with heavily disturbed habitats.