Green Peafowl population status in agricultural and semi-natural landscapes at the edge of a protected area in northern Myanmar

Summary

Restricted to the dry habitats of Southeast Asia, the Endangered Green Peafowl Pavo muticus has seen a decline due to hunting and habitat loss, with only a few major strongholds remaining in the region. However, in rural Myanmar, the species is also found in small populations inhabiting fragmented habitats, both protected and unprotected, and the surrounding agricultural landscape, which are scarcely monitored or protected despite their potential importance for the species’ conservation. Here, we first estimate the species’ population inhabiting the surrounding area of the newly established Indawgyi Biosphere Reserve. Using Distance sampling, with 188 independent detections collected along seven transects (14 km in total) surveyed multiple times (total walking effort 182 km), we estimated a population density ranging between 0.51 (95% CI=0.31-0.82) and 0.68 (95% CI=0.47-0.97) calling males per km ² in two different spatial subsets of the transects based on spatial distribution. Second, using an infinite-weight logistic regression model, we predicted the extent of suitable habitat in the northern part of the reserve to be only 3.22 km ² , occurring in very small patches. The estimated population density in the area is particularly low, perhaps due to the low level of protection it faces by falling outside the boundaries of the Biosphere Reserve and the fact that the inhabited habitat is sub-optimal for the species, comprising open woodland, grassland and rice fields. However, the sites surveyed around the Indawgyi Biosphere Reserve remain important for the long-term conservation of this Endangered species, as they border protected natural habitat and may receive some level of management. These areas could ultimately be incorporated into the Reserve’s buffer area and formally included in its management plan.