Abstract:
To explore effective approaches for Tragopan caboti habitat restoration, Wuyanling Forest Farm in Taishun County, Zhejiang Province, conducted ecological logging in
Cryptomeria fortunei forests within the distribution area of
T.
caboti in the 1990s at four intensities(low-intensity thinning, medium-intensity thinning, high-intensity selective cutting, and overall selective cutting). After logging, the minimum vegetation coverage was maintained above 0.3. After more than 30-year natural succession, in 2023, plot surveys were conducted to analyze community characteristics including the importance values of tree species, species diversity indices and similarity indices to zonal vegetation. In 2024, infrared camera traps were used to monitor the occurrence frequency of
T.
caboti in the logged areas and the broad-leaved forest( the control) for the evaluation of habitat restoration. The results showed that: (1) the importance values of broad-leaved tree species in the late-successional community, species diversity indices (Richness index, Simpson index, and Shannon-Wiener index) and similarity indices to zonal vegetation all increased with the initial increasing logging intensity, indicating that the ecological logging promoted the successional restoration of the community toward the subtropical zonal vegetation( i.e., evergreen broad-leaved forest), and this effect increased with the rising of logging intensity. (2) The occurrence frequency of
T. caboti in the high-intensity selective logging area was higher than those in the other logging areas and the control, indicating that the coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest vegetation environment formed by high-intensity selective cutting of
C. fortunei forests was the most suitable for survival of
T.
caboti.