Abstract:

The upper reaches of the Yangtze River is not only the most important area of biodiversity protection in Chinese freshwater region, but also one of the key ecoregions of the Global 200, which is the list of priorities for the purpose of global biodiversity protection.The recovery and improvement of the environmental quality in this area have already been the focus of the ecological protection and management in this area with extremely frequent human activities.Birds are extremely sensitive to environment changes and human interference, which has been used frequently in monitoring the environmental risks human beings face.The scientific field survey of the diversity features of birds (community composition, population size, spacial distribution, etc.),by line transect methods, in Xiangjiaba Reservoir Area in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River was carried out in the summer and autumn of 2011.Systematic analysis was conducted on the dynamic changes of birds influenced by human activities and the relationship between them.One hundred and ten species of birds belonging to 39 families in 15 orders were recorded.Through the research on the diversity of birds in different habitats of 5 investigation sites and 2 control sites, three results have been found.(1) The ShannonWiener Indexes of birds were comparatively low in different habitats of the research area in summer and autumn, hardly exceeding 15, which indicated the species diversity of birds were relatively poor in this area.(2) The Pielou Indexes of birds all exceeded 075 in different habitats of the research area, which indicated the enviorenment in the reservoir area was mainly dominated by artificial vegetation, but not monotonous at all.(3)The spatial distributions of birds in different habitats were strikingly different——the similarity difference of birds between thin forest thickets and bamboo groves of terraces and mixed evergreen and deciduous broadleaved forests was minimum, but the difference between the above two and Phragmites australis and Arthraxon hispidus clusters in river beaches was maximum.On the basis of the above researches, multifactor comprehensive analysis was carried out on different habitat types of birds in Xiangjiaba for the purpose of protecting the species diversity and river landscape.The results show that there were abundant species diversity of birds in mountain forest habitats, and very high ecological values in this research area; furthermore, the thin forest thickets and bamboo groves in river beach and terrace habitats had certain landscape features, and considerable ecological values as well.These findings provide scientific evidence for the environmental protection and sustainable development in Xiangjiaba Reservoir Area