科研之友
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摘要
Identifying the breeding habitat of red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis) is essential for the management and conservation of this rare species. In the current study, we built a habitat suitability index (HSI) model for the breeding red-crowned crane in wetlands of the Zhalong National Nature Reserve of the Songnen Plain, China. The assessing factors to construct the HSI model were selected according to the habitat requirements of red-crowned crane in the breeding period, including the potential nest site (emergent marsh), habitat composition (the area percentage of emergent marsh in species home range), water depth, vegetation cover, and distance to human disturbance. Efficient techniques have been used to quantify predictor variables using multi-source data (i.e. optical imagery, radar imagery and ancillary topographic data). In addition, we illustrated the extraction method of habitat factors in detail and the significances of these factors in evaluating the breeding habitat suitability for the red-crowned crane. Analysis results indicated that the GIS-based HSI model successfully identified potentially suitable red-crowned cranes nesting sites. This analysis not only enables wildlife managers to identify priority locations and conservation status for red-crowned crane, but also provides an effective and prompt method that can be used to infer other waterfowl species nest sites.
