Study On Habitat Selection Of Plateau Pika (Ochotona Curzoniae) In South Central Tibet Plateau

The plateau pika(Ochotona curzoniae)is a small dominant species in an alpine meadow ecosystem of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau playing an irreplaceable role in maintaining the stable development of rangelands ecosystem.Habitat selection refers to the non-random use of habitat by individuals being one of basic components of ecological research.Currently,researches in relation to the habitat plateau pika were seen in the eastern margin of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau,namely Gansu,Qinghai and other places.However,there is little known in the Tibet Autonomous region.Considering the present situation of the alpine meadow ecosystem in a central and a southern Tibet(Xizang),the climate environment is slightly different from Qinghai,Gansu etc.,including the ecological characteristics of the plateau pika inhabiting in a central Tibetan plateau can also be different from other regions.As a key-stone species in the plateau ecosystem,understanding of the plateau pika ecological characteristics can be great significance to the plateau ecology.The research on the habitat selection by plateau pikas provide a basic data for the evaluation of grassland quality,the estimation of habitat capacity,the protection of grassland diversity,and a sustainable development of the grassland animal husbandry.Also a theoretical and a practical basis can be provided for the protection of Qinghai-Tibetan alpine meadow ecosystem.Therefore,the field study was carried out from July to August,2020,being the most vigorous period of the alpine meadow growth,and also the period taking severe disturbance by plateau pikas,Six typical alpine meadow grazing areas were selected as large scale study sites in the study area with 30 plots and 150 quadrats.This paper analyzed the main factors affecting the habitat selection by plateau pikas,studies on the correlation between the number of pika burrows and various ecological factors,and top models were selected based on AIC criterion.The main results are as following:1.There were significant differences in the soil moisture,the soil conductivity,the soil salinity,the vegetation coverage,the altitude,the distance to buildings and competitive animals between the plateau pika's distribution and non-distribution(P < 0.05).2.Effects of the Simpson diversity index,the Shannon-Wiener index and the vegetation coverage,the soil conductivity and the soil p H the distance to road,grazing,the distance to water,the distance to buildings,attituded and competitive animals on the habitat selection of plateau pikas were shown by the principal component analysis.3.The results of correlation analysis showed that the effective number of burrows of plateau pika had significant negative correlation with the competitive rodents,the vegetation coverage and the soil salinity(P < 0.05).However,there was a significant positive correlation with altitude(P < 0.05).4.The results of the curve fitting regression analysis showed that with increasing of the number of effective burrows of plateau pikas,the Shannon-Wiener index and the Simpson diversity index with a trend being both increasing at the first stage and decreasing at the second stage with significant significance(P < 0.05);The vegetation coverage showed that there was a significant decreasing trend(P < 0.05);The soil salinity first decreased at the first stage and then increased being significant(P <0.05).5.The Poisson regression analysis of the effective number of burrows of plateau pikas and building a model based on AIC criterion,the best model fitting was: log(y(The number of pika burrows))= 2.309 +9.027e-04 ×(altitude)-0.753×(competitive animals)-1.269×(vegetation coverage)-30.560 ×(soil salinity).Based on the above research results,the plateau pika selects habitats with a low soil moisture,a low soil conductivity and the salinity,a high altitude,no competitive animals,an abundant food resources and avoiding from predators in the central and southern Tibet(Xizang).Therefore,this study can provide a theoretical support for predictions and dynamics of the plateau pika's population by clarifying the importance of various factors resulting in the habitat selection by plateau pika in this study area.