Spatio-Temporal Niche Differentiation of White Eared Pheasant (Crossoptilon crossoptilon) and Blood Pheasant (Ithaginis cruentus) in Gongga Mountain National Nature Reserve, Sichuan Province

It is of great practical significance to study niche differentiation of sympatric species for integrated conservation and management of species in different regions. From May 2017 to April 2018, infrared camera traps were installed to continuously monitor the sympatric distribution of White Eared Pheasant (Crossoptilon crossoptilon) and Blood Pheasant (Ithaginis cruentus) in Gongga Mountain National Nature Reserve, Sichuan province. Kruskal-Wallis H test and kernel density estimation were used to compare and analyze the differences in utilization of altitude, vegetation type and daily activity rhythm of the two species in dry and rainy seasons with the infrared camera data. The results were as follows: 1) The distribution camera positions of C. crossoptilon (53) and I. cruentus (49) were similar, with 24 identical sites, all of which were distributed only in the three vegetation types of coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest, coniferous forest and shrub forest. 2) The altitude distribution range of I. cruentus (2981~3930 m) and C. crossoptilon (3067~3930 m) was similar, but the average altitude distribution of C. crossoptilon was significantly higher than that of I. cruentus (3600.44 m ± 227.97 m vs. 3412.67 m ± 313.32 m; Z= −7.022, P<0.01). 3) Both C. crossoptilon and I. cruentus had obvious preference for coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest, followed by coniferous forest. The utilization rate of shrub forest was the lowest, but there were differences in the utilization of different vegetation types between the two species. 4) The daily activity rhythm of C. crossoptilon showed three activity peaks, which was obviously different from the one activity peak of I. cruentus (Δ=0.85, P=0.002). 5) Compared with different seasons, there was no significant difference in daily activity rhythm between C. crossoptilon and I. cruentusin rainy season (Δ=0.84, P=0.07), but there was significant difference in dry season (Δ=0.86, P=0.04). This study has accumulated important basic data for studying the niche differentiation of sympatric pheasant species and can provide important scientific data for further exploring the coexistence mechanism of sympatric species and the development of targeted conservation and management strategies.