Predicting suitable habitat of the Chinese monal (Lophophorus lhuysii) using ecological niche modeling in the Qionglai Mountains, China

Abstract

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 (Lophophorus lhuysii), 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 km2, 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.

Maxent modeling for predicting the spatial distribution of three raptors in the Sanjiangyuan National Park, China

“…At present, it is not only an important freshwater supply site for China and Southeast Asia (Liu, Li, & Wen, 2006;Wang, Song, & Hu, 2010), but also one of the most sensitive areas for global climate change response (Liu et al, 2017). The area covers 123,100 km 2 and accounting for 31.16% of the entire area of the Sanjiangyuan.…”

“…It consists of three regions: the Yangtze River Source, the Yellow River Source, and the Lancang River Source. At present, it is not only an important freshwater supply site for China and Southeast Asia (Liu, Li, & Wen, 2006;Wang, Song, & Hu, 2010), but also one of the most sensitive areas for global climate change response (Liu et al, 2017).…”

Seagrass Habitat Suitability Map at Merambong Shoal, Johor: A Preliminary Study Using Multibeam Echosounder and Maxent Modelling

“…Each of the replicates used a randomly selected seagrass presence-only data. The seagrass presence-only data were separated into training data and test data (75% and 25% of the data, respectively) (Briscoe et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2017). A set of seagrass occurrence data that contained five (5) drop locations within the surveyed area was used.…”

Gut Microbiome Composition and Metabolomic Profiles of Wild and Captive Chinese Monals (Lophophorus Lhuysii)

“…The Chinese monal (Lophophorus lhuysii) belongs to the order Galliformes, family Phasianidae, distributed in the mountains of southwest China at an elevation of 3,000 to 4,900 meters [1]. It is an endemic bird species of China, which has been listed as endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) [2], classi ed as a vulnerable species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)red list [3], and has been protected in China as a rst-class, nationally-protected wildlife species since 1989 [1]. There has been limited success with establishing captive breeding groups of Chinese monals throughout the world, the reason for which is not entirely clear [4].…”