Landscape and habitat factors affecting cabot's tragopan Tragopan caboti occurrence in habitat fragments.

Abstract

Cabot's tragopan Tragopan caboti is an endemic and endangered pheasant of the lower montane forests of southeastern China. The typical habitats of the tragopan have been seriously fragmented because of forest management for timber production and farmland reclamation in recent years. The effects of the fragment size and isolation on the distribution of the cabot's tragopan were studied in Wuyanling Natural Reserve. Thirty one habitat fragments (2.5–48.5 ha) surrounded by non-habitat sapling coniferous forests, in an intensively managed forested landscape, were surveyed over four seasons for the occurrence of cabot's tragopan. Five of the 31 fragments were occupied in all four seasons and nine were not occupied. Both landscape and habitat factors affected the occurrence of cabot's tragopan, with landscape factors having the greatest effect. Large and less isolated habitat fragments containing a larger amount of the tree Daphniphyllum macropodum were occupied significantly more often than small, isolated fragments. The appearance of cabot's tragopan in the habitat fragments was best explained by the size of the fragments, the distance to the nearest suitable habitat and the amount of macropdous daphniphyllum trees. Our results could be used to improve the management of the forests where Cabot's tragopan occurs in southeastern China.