[Structure characteristics of natural nests and its implication to artificial nest frame design for Ciconia boyciana].

Artificial nest can improve the breeding success of birds in the field, and it has been proved to be more effective to endangered species. We surveyed the structure characteristics of natural nest and the status of the use of artificial nests for oriental white stork, Ciconia boyciana, in Honghe National Nature Reserve, Heilongjiang Province. Differences were investigated among the structure characteristics of the used and unused artificial nests, and natural nests based on one-way ANOVA. It was observed that significant differences in the diameter of nest branch, the vertical an- gle between nest branch, the height of the jointthe height of the nest above ground exited in different nest types. On account of the structure characteristics of the natural nests of C. boyciana, the suitable diameter of nest pillar for artificial nest frame should be 15.0-25.0 cm with the height of 5.0-12.0 m, which would be better if they were constructed by some acid-resistant materials, e.g., cement. The number of nest stands should be 3-4 individuals with the diameter of 9.0-12.0 cm, the vertical angle of 45 degrees-60 degrees, and the length of 90.0-140.0 cm.

[A new category system of China nature reserves based on their attributes].

Based on the numeric attributes of 114 typical nature reserves in China, a new category system was established by using cluster analysis method. Compared with the China national category system of nature reserves, the new category system was simpler and more applicable. The 4 categories in the new system matched well to the categories I , II , IV, and V in IUCN category system, respectively. The new category system, characterized by the consistency of category criteria and scale, could avoid the deviation caused by subjective category to some degree, and provide a quantitative standard for the classification of nature reserves in China.