Habitat Selection of Three Amphibians (Rana kukunoris,Nanorana pleskei,Bufo minshanicus) During Summer Autumn in Zoige Wetland National Nature Reserve

Habitat selection of Rana kukunoris,Nanorana pleskei and Bufo minshanicus was studied in Zoige Wetland National Nature Reserve,Sichuan Province,southewest of China,from August to September,2004. Twelve ecological factors of 16 sites used by the 3 amphibian species were selected and measured. These factors included grazing condition (GC),herbage height (HH),herbage cover (HC),number of yak dejectas (YJ),number of Ochotona cavities (OC),number of sokhor mounds (SM),ground temperature (GT) and moisture (GM),soil temperature (ST),distance to small waterbodies (DSW),distance to large waterbodies (DLW) and distance to roads (DR). The results indicated that R. kukunoris,N. pleskei and B. minshanicus all preferred habitats characterized by distance near small waterbodies (such as ponds) (≤100 m),distance farther (>1 000 m)to larger waterbodies (eg. Rivers and lakes),moderate grazing intensity,absence of OC. By comparison,it was found that R. kukunoris and N. pleskei significantly selected summer pasture habitats characterized by HH 5.1-10.0 cm,DSW 0-50 m,significantly not to select habitats with too many SMs (>10). R. kukunoris significantly selected habitats with DR>50 m;B. minshanicus had no significant selection for GC and DR but significantly selected habitats characterized by HH>20.0 cm,DSW 51-100 m and did not select habitats without SMs,N. pleskei significantly selected habitats with DR 0-50 m. The 3 amphibians differed in the habitat selection to some extent,which suggested they had special requirement for habatits respectively and GC,HH,GM,ST,SM,DLW,DSW and DR were the critical factors distinguishing habitat selection of the 3 amphibians species by stepwise discriminant analysis.