Arborophila Rufipectus : Consequences for Managing Newly Protected Areas in Southern China

Newcastle University e-prints Date deposited: 21st March 2011 Version of file: Published Peer Review Status: Peer Reviewed Citation for published item: Bo D, Dowell SD, Garson PJ, Fen-Qi H. Habitat utilisation by the threatened Sichuan Partridge Arborophila rufipectus : consequences for managing newly protected areas in southern China . Bird Conservation International 2009, 19 (2), 187-198. Further information on publisher website: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=BCI Publishers copyright statement: Copyright © BirdLife International 2009. This paper is published by Cambridge University Press, and is available with access permissions, from the DOI below: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0959270909007618 Always use the definitive version when citing. Use Policy: The full-text may be used and/or reproduced and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not for profit purposes provided that: • A full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • A link is made to the metadata record in Newcastle E-prints • The full text is not changed in any way. The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Robinson Library, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne. NE1 7RU. Tel. 0191 222 6000 Bird Conservation International ( 2009 ) 19 :187 –198 . ª BirdLife International 2009 doi:10.1017/S0959270909007618 Printed in the United Kingdom Habitat utilisation by the threatened Sichuan Partridge Arborophila rufipectus : consequences for managing newly protected areas in southern China DAI BO, SIMON D. DOWELL, PETER J. GARSON and HE FEN-QI Summary A number of former forest farms in southern Sichuan province, south-west China have been designated as protected areas following the 1998 logging ban in the upper Yangtze basin. These are within the range of the endemic Sichuan Partridge Arborophila rufipectus which has a fragmented distribution in the remnant broadleaf forests of this region, and is currently listed as ‘Endangered’ by IUCN. The design of a robust conservation plan for this species has been ham- pered by a lack of knowledge about its habitat preferences in a heavily modified environment. To remedy this, ranging behaviour and habitat utilization by this species was studied through a combination of a call count method and radio tracking of individual birds. The results indicate that A. rufipectus significantly prefers primary and older planted secondary broadleaf forest compared to forest degraded by human activity or scrub. Individual birds were found on the upper parts of slopes and made particular use of areas with a dense canopy and open understorey, whilst avoiding the lower slopes and areas close to trails where human disturbance is likely to be greater. The ongoing conservation programme for this partridge species is based on these findings and includes further protected area designations and management plans, the establishment of new forest corridors, and better control of hunting and other forms of forest exploitation. Introduction The conservation significance of the medium-altitude evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forests in south-central Sichuan has been highlighted by both BirdLife International for endemic birds (Stattersfield et al. 1997 ) and Conservation International ( 2007 ) as part of the Mountains of South-west China Biodiversity Hotspot. Yet before 1998 , these ecosystems were largely ignored by the Chinese forestry authorities. Prior to this date, virtually all the remaining primary forest in this zone was divided into forest farms and destined for logging within a 20 –40 year period. Populations of surviving endemic birds, including the Sichuan Partridge Arborophila rufipectus , were therefore seriously threatened and their long-term survival seemed to be in doubt (King and Li 1988 , Dai et al. 1998 , Dowell et al. 1999 ). Following catastrophic floods on the Yangtze River in 1998 , the Chinese Government introduced the National Forest Protection Programme, which included a moratorium on deforestation in the upper Yangtze basin and a change in land management policies that favoured soil and watershed protection (Liao 1999 ). This presented an opportunity to introduce better plans and action for biodiversity conservation, and a number of former Forest Farms (i.e. timber-production areas) have since been designated as protected areas. These reserves often include secondary and plantation woodland alongside surviving fragments Dai Bo et al. 188 of primary forest and a current challenge is to find ways to manage these areas for the benefit of their threatened and endemic wild species. The Sichuan Partridge is one such endemic, restricted in its global distribution to evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forests at 1,100 –2,250 m a.s.l. in southern Sichuan Province (Johnsgard 1988 ). BirdLife International ( 2007 ) currently categorises this species as ‘Endangered’ under the Red List criteria (IUCN 2001 ), on the grounds that it has a declining population of fewer than 2,500 mature individuals and occupies a highly fragmented habitat, with no single subpopulation exceeding 250 individuals (criterion EN C 2a[i]). Its geographical range overlaps extensively with those of four other restricted range bird species: Gold-fronted Fulvetta Alcippe variegaticeps , Omei Shan Liocichla Liocichla omeiensis , Silver Oriole Oriolus mellianus and Emei Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus emeiensis. Consequently, this area of China falls within an Endemic Bird Area (D 14 , Chinese Subtropical Forests), as defined by BirdLife International (Stattersfield et al. 1997 ). The moratorium on deforestation has lessened the immediate threat of habitat destruction, although the long-term survival of the partridge in a highly fragmented forest landscape remains uncertain. Additional threats affecting this species arise from long traditions of livestock browsing, and bamboo shoot and medicinal plant collection, all of which have the potential to cause significant disturbance to the birds or their forest floor habitats, especially during the spring breeding period (Dowell et al. 1999 ). Despite having first class protection status in China (Zheng and Wang 1998 ), this species is also hunted, together with other species of Galliformes such as Temminck’s Tragopan Tragopan temminckii and Silver Pheasant Lophura nycthemera with which it shares its habitats (Dai et al. 1998 ). Managers of new forest reserves require detailed information on the habitat requirements of endemic species like the Sichuan Partridge in order to reduce these threats effectively. Until recently there were only anecdotal descriptions of the natural history of the Sichuan Partridge (Li et al. 1974 , Li and Zhang 1992 ), although recent studies have described its calls (Liao et al. 2007 b) and roosting behaviour (Liao et al. 2008 ). The possibility that there were more localities holding the species still to be discovered prompted a series of surveys in various habitat types in the 1990 s. As a result, Dai et al. (1998 ) found several new populations and established that calling males in spring sometimes occupy secondary broadleaf forests at comparable densities to those found in primary forest, although they were apparently absent from conifer plantations. However, the forest landscape in this region is a fine-grained mosaic of these and other habitat types, and there remained a suspicion that the presence of individual birds might depend on close proximity to at least some primary forest (Xu et al. 1994 ). Thus it became important to determine the extent to which individual Sichuan Partridges actually use the different habitats available to them, and a project of this sort was given international priority in the IUCN Action Plan for the partridges and their allies (Fuller et al. 2000 ). A study during the non-breeding season established that in winter, the birds prefer south- facing slopes in forest areas with limited bamboo cover (Liao et al. 2007 c). A further study by the same authors established that the adult birds roost 1.7–6.4 m off the ground in dense shrub vegetation though away from bamboo thickets (Liao et al. 2008 ). The work reported here is the first attempt to describe the ranging behaviour of individual Sichuan Partridges during the breeding season, with the primary aim of determining their habitat preferences amongst com- ponents of the forest habitat mosaic, so that management of newly protected areas can be designed to favour this species. Conclusions derived from this analysis are translated into management guidelines for adoption in new protected areas harbouring significant populations of this species. Study Area In early 2000 , an area of 11 .07 km 2 within the boundaries of Forest Farm No. 213 in Leibo County, southern Sichuan ( 28 o20 924 0N to 28 o22 919 0N and 103 o29 916 0E to 103 o32 925 0E) was demarcated as the study site (Figure 1). It covers an altitudinal range of 1,280 -2,000 m a.s.l. and Conservation of threatened Sichuan Partridge 189 Figure 1. Map showing topography of the Sichuan Partridge study site at Forest Farm 213 in Leibo County, Sichuan Province, including insets indicating its location within Leibo County and in Sichuan Province, China. lies on the northern slope of Jinping mountain, in the Daliang range. The climate is wet subtropical to temperate, with high precipitation (mean 1,421 mm per year) and relative humidity (mean 85 %). Temperatures are sub-zero for 2–3

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