STUDY OF JAPANESE MARSH WARBLER’S HABITAT EVALUATION MODEL IN THE DOWNSTREAM AREA OF TONE RIVER

Abstract

The declination of wildlife’s habitat on the flood plain is a serious problem in the downstream section of Tone River, where river improvement works obtaining appropriate flow volumes for flood control purpose is an unavoidable matter. Among existing species, the impact on Japanese Marsh Warblers found in wet environment such as Phragmites australis field is concerned because they are designated endangered species (IB) by Ministry of Environmental and it is estimated that half of their population in Japan exists in this area. In this study, we conducted the field investigation of Japanese Marsh Warbler with respect to the spatial distribution of their song posts and vegetation including both upper and lower layers of vegetation in the study site and constructed the habitat evaluation model of this species in the breeding season using logistic regression analysis. In addition, we examined the applicability of the model to Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) in Habitat Evaluation Procedure (HEP).