The Influence Of Human Footprint Variation On The Spatial Distribution Of Reeves's Pheasant In Dabie Mountains In Recent 20 Years

The human footprint refers to the physical changes within a landscape or to alterations in vegetation structure and composition that are caused by human infrastructure development.It is one of the primary factors that contribute to habitat loss and fragmentation throughout the world.In China,human infrastructure has developed extremely rapidly in the past 20 years and human footprints have gradually infiltrated the habitats of endangered species.One such example is the Reeves' s Pheasant(Syrmaticus reevesii),a representative species of forested ecosystems in certain mountainous areas of central China.As human footprints in its distribution range have been rapidly increasing and its population has been in decline,this species is recognized as Endangered by the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN)and is a nationally protected species in China.Therefore,it is of great significance to study the impact of the human footprint on the Reeves' s Pheasant and to provide basic information on its distribution for its conservation.This study examined the impact of human infrastructure development on the spatial distribution of the Reeves' s Pheasant in the Dabie Mountains over the past 20 years.This was accomplished by quantifying the changes in land use and land cover(LULC)in the Dabie Mountains through geographic information technology and CA-Markov analysis.Three different distribution models were compared: the first contained topographic and land cover factors,the second contained topographic and human footprint factors,and the third contained all the aforementioned variables.These models were used to elucidate the impact of human infrastructure development on potential habitat changes of the Reeves' s Pheasant during 2001-2002 and 2018-2019 and to assess the extent of habitat fragmentation during both periods.The changes in the human footprint during periods of 2001-2002 and 2018-2019 were then analyzed and the response of the Reeves' s Pheasant distribution to these changes was quantified.Finally,the population dynamics of the Reeves' s Pheasant and the changes in human footprints within the national nature reserves and surrounding areas in the Dabie Mountains were analyzed to evaluate the protection effectiveness of national nature reserves.The main results are shown below:(1)In the past 20 years,the primary land cover types within the study area were cultivated lands and forests.Together,these accounted for approximately 88% of the total area.During 2000-2015,the proportion of land covered by artificial facilities increased,and its change rate has exceeded 64%;while the area of cultivated land and grassland declined greatly.In this time period,cultivated lands,forests,and water bodies were converted to bare land at different rates.Land cover data from 2000 and 2015 were used to simulate future LULC in this region and these models indicate that artificial facilities will maintain an increasing trend in 2030.The results also suggest that the land cover occupied by artificial facilities will be widely distributed throughout the study region.Given the declines in population size and distribution of the Reeves' s Pheasant within recent decades,these results indicate that this species will likely continue to suffer from severe habitat fragmentation in the future.(2)Suitable habitats for the Reeves's Pheasant have been decreasing and became more fragmented throughout 2001-2019.Moreover,the distribution of this species became narrower and the distribution center of suitable habitats moved towards southeast,which is closer to the highest peak of the Dabie Mountains.(3)Human footprints are widely distributed throughout the Dabie Mountains.For example,any location in the Dabie Mountains is located within 10 km from the nearest road or from area with human infrastructure development.In 2001-2002,95% of locations within this region were located within 1.28 km of the nearest road and 4.27 km from the nearest buildings.However,these distances decreased to 0.75 km and 0.96 km,respectively,in 2018-2019.Model analysis showed that the distribution of Reeves' s Pheasants was significantly affected by the distance to the buildings in 2018-2019: the probability of the Reeves' s Pheasant occurrence decreased as the distance to buildings decreased.These results suggest that the increased density of buildings in the Dabie Mountains may increase the potential threats to the survival of the Reeves' s Pheasant.(4)Both the length of the roads and the total area containing buildings in and around the national nature reserves of the Dabie Mountains increased more in 2018-2019 than in 2001-2002.The main factors that influenced the area of suitable habitats for the Reeves' s Pheasant were the distances to farmland,railways,and national roads in 2001-2002.In contrast,the altitude and the distance to wind turbines were the main contributing factors in 2018-2019.Most of the Reeves' s Pheasants and wind turbines are at the altitude of 100-900 m,though Reeves' s Pheasant occurs more often at the altitude of 100-500 m,while wind turbines often occur at 500-900 m.The proportion of potentially suitable habitats within the national nature reserves in the Dabie Mountains in 2018-2019 had significantly decreased when compared with data from 2001-2012.Furthermore,there is a higher proportion of potentially suitable habitats for the Reeves' s Pheasant in the experimental zones of national nature reserves rather than in the core zones and buffer zones.These results indicate that national nature reserves within the Dabie Mountains are threatened by human infrastructure encroachment and increasingly face the challenge of balancing conservation needs with the needs of the local economy and society.Moreover,there is a need to strengthen our understanding of endangered species within this region,such as the Reeve's Pheasant,so that their needs of survival can be considered in the planning and management of national nature reserves and to improve the effectiveness of future conservation efforts.