Summer habitat use of the Alpine snowhue (Lagopus mutus helveticus) in the Gesäuse-region Stadelfeldschneid/Gsuachmauer National Park

In May 2005, the first preliminary surveys for an inventory of the snow chicken population in the Stadelfeldschneid/Gsuachmauer area were started. This Research area is located in the southeast of the Gesäuse National Park. From mid-June to early July, a total of 4 days in the early morning hours were searched for calling roosters using the method of BOSSERT (1977). 16 taps were mapped on an examination area of 1.35 km. This corresponds to a very high density of 11.8 roosters per km compared to other areas of the Alps. The study area was divided into 135 grid squares with a side length of 100 m. In these squares, indirect evidence such as solution rollers or springs was searched. In a total of 94 of the 135 squares, evidence was also found. This corresponds to a recovery rate of 69.6 %. The absolute number of sites is 219. The habitat was studied with the help of an ecosystem analysis for the distribution of habitat types, using data from the own raster mapping, an aerial mapping according to the Habitalp criteria and a terrain model. The examination area consists to a large extent of alpine lawns interspersed with rock and scree. There are only a few areas with dense trees. The altitude ranges from 1 614 m to 2 115 m, with a large part of the area above 1 900 m above sea level. The exposures with the highest proportions are North, Northwest and South. The slope slope is distributed almost exclusively between 11 and 50, with the distribution not entirely in line with the real ratios, since in the terrain model the extreme values are lost due to an average formation. Using a habitat utilisation analysis, the classes preferred by the Alpine snow chickens (Lagopus mutus helveticus) were determined for each habitat parameter. The chickens prefer areas from 1 950 m above sea level, with a slope greater than 50. Even considering the location of the study area, alpine snow chickens (L. m. helveticus) prefer exposures north, north-west and northeast. Furthermore, the chickens prefer areas with a mixture of a high proportion of rock, upholstered grass and dwarf shrubs and as low as possible of grasses, herbs, and woods. The total share of rock and boulder should be more than 40 %, the vegetation share should be less than 60 %. Medium-to-highly structured areas have a major influence on the distribution, since findings were found almost exclusively in these areas. Very important is also the vegetation height, which is preferred up to a maximum height of 10 cm. Alpine snow chickens (L. m. helveticus) prefer, starting from the location of the found points, areas near the ridge or on the upper and middle slopes. For a large part of the found points, trees or shrubs were found within a maximum radius of 5 m. This seems to indicate that the distance to trees and shrubs plays a role in the selection of resting places. In order to better assess the study area and the national park, habitat models have been developed for both areas. Important parameters were in addition to sea height, vegetation height, the proportion of grass/grass or dwarf shrubs/Polsterrasen and the habitat types. The areas classified as at least suitable include more or less all the summit areas of the National Park and also large areas of the study area. The suitable areas are almost entirely made up of rock and alpine lawns. Disturbances caused by tourist activities such as hiking could not be detected at least in the examination area. This is consistent with previous results, which show the snow chicken a high tolerance against disturbances by humans compared to other chickens.