Habitat Selection By Argali (O.A.Karelini) And Ibex (C.S.Alaiana)in Central Tianshan Mountains

Argali (o. a. karelini) and ibex (C s. alaiana) is typical ungulates in the mountains of central Asia, studies on the habitat selection of this two animals are less at present. We investigated the habitat selection by line census in GuRenGuoLeng areas of Central Tianshan Moutains. The results can be used for protection and management of agali and ibex.The results show that:(1) there is not significant difference between feeding and bed habitat of agali in vegetation height, vegetation cover, and hiding cover level in the cold season, while altitude, slope, distance to road, distance to human settlements, number of plant species and snow deepth have very significant difference、snow cover show significant difference. Slope location has a very significant difference, slope direction and landscape types show significant difference. Compared with feeding habitat, agali’s bed habitat prefer for higher altitude, more steep slope, further distance to roads and human settlements, more plant species, more shallow snow, less snow covering, habitats of a mountain alpine meadows in gentle slopes and gravel on steep slopes in the cold season. There is not significant difference between feeding and bed habitat of agali in slope, hiding cover level, distance to water resouce, number of plant species and vegetation coverage in the warm season, while altitude, distance to livestock have very significant difference; vegetation height show significant difference. Slope location, slope direction and landscape types have very significant differenc. Compared with bed habitat, agali’s feeding habitat prefer for lower elevation,lower vegetation height, closer to roads, human settlements and livestock, habitats of a mountain alpine meadcw in the semi-shaded slope and grassland in gentle slope in the warm season.(2) there is not significant difference between feeding and bed habitat of ibex in altitude, distance to road, slope, distance to human settlements, vegetation height and number of plant species in the cold season, while vegetation cover, distance to hidden objects, hiding cover level, snow cover and distance to summit of mountain have very significant difference;snow depth show significant difference. Slope location and landscape types have no significant difference, slope direction show significant difference. Compared with bed habitat, ibex’s feeding habitat prefer for higher vegetation cover, thicker snow depth, lower snow cover, lower hiding cover level, further to summit of mountain, and further distance to hidden objects, habitat in sunny or semi-shaded slope. There is not significant difference between feeding and bed habitat of ibex in distance to human settlements, vegetation height, number of plant species in warm season, while altitude, slope, distance to road, vegetation cover, distance to water resource, distance to livestock, distance to summit of mountain, distance to hidden objects and hiding cover level have very significant difference. Slope location has no significant difference and landscape types have no significant difference, slope direction show very significant difference. Compared with feeding habitat, ibex’s bed habitat prefer for for higher altitude, smaller slope, closer to water resource and summit of mountain, further distance to road and livestock, higher hiding cover level and lower vegetation cover, habitat in the upper bare rock cliff and sunny slope.