Home Range And Habitat Characteristics Of Francois's Langur (Trachypithecus Francoisi) In Mayanghe National Nature Reserve

Establishment of nature reserve or protect area is one of effective approaches to conserve biodiversity, but unsuitable establishment or poor management not only fails to achieve preconcerted goal, but also accelerates degeneration or extinction of protected species. Therefore it is very vital for nature reserves to implement reasonable plans and effective managements. Francois's langur (Trachypithecus francoisi) group in Mayanghe national nature reserve is one of the easternmost natural distribution groups with the highest density and the biggest population, with 500-600 individuals. It is very important for reproduction and survival of this species if the nature reserve puts more attention on effective management. The aim of this dissertation is to provide scientific data for protection of this species through scientific designs of landscape and management zones on the basis of relevant researches about home range, habitat selection and habitat evaluation of Francois's langur.We recorded activity locations of 5 groups in the nature reserve, and followed 3 among them in four seasons from October 2006 to September 2007. We recorded the locations of the 3 groups on a 1:10000 map at 15 minutes interval. We calculated size of home range of Francois's langur by using the minimum convex polygon method. We used pointed-centred quarter method to record species of arbors, shrubs and bamboos in its home range and to analyze characteristics of vegetation. We selected points randomly by arcview 3.2 as contrast group. We tried to find out key habitat factors influencing habitat selection of Francois's langur in different study sites and then evaluated habitat quality further by using logistic regression model. On the basis of data on habitat evaluation, combined with types, intension and distribution of human activity, we designed landscape structure and management zone of the nature reserve.The results showed that:1,Average annual daily length of travel path of Francois's langur was no more than 800m, and the maximum value is less than 1500m. In undisturbed habitat, annual home range of Francois's langur was 56 hm~2, while those for 2 groups were 78 hm~2 and 119 hm~2 respectively in disturbed habitat. There were significant differences of daily travel length pattern and home range pattern between different habitats.2,There were 115 species of arbors, shrubs and bamboos, belonging to 51 families and 91 genera in the home range of Francois's langur. Among them, single-species families and single-species genera had a dominant proportion. At family level, a large part of them were Pantropic type; at genera level, the main types included Pantropic, Trop.Asia (Indo-Malesia) and North Temperate. There were rich ancient species and many plants addicted to calcium. Dominant species usually provided Francois's langur with main food sources.3,Main habitat factors influencing habitat selection were different for different groups of Francois's langur, but slope degree was a common key factor for any group. Key habitat factors influencing habitat selection in different habitats included vegetation type, slope degree, distance to river and distance to path.4,There was difference in habitat use for different group of Francois's langur. However all the groups preferred to use middle or steep slope and avoided gentle slope.5,All sleeping sites of Francois's langur were located areas of steep slope of≧60°. Most of them were located in evergreen broad leaf forest, the main apparent type was rock slot, and the main vegetation layer around them was shrub. A great number of sleeping sites were located areas of lower slope position. There was no obvious selection for slope aspect. There was significant difference for selection of quantitative habitat factors in different habitats. Terrain was an important factor for sleeping site selection in undisturbed habitat, while water source and food as well as landform were the main factors in disturbed habitat.6,Suitable habitat of the nature reserve was distributed along both sides of valleys of Mayanghe River, Hongduhe River and its branch Lanzihe River, whose total area was 9129hm~2 with being 29.34% of the total area of the nature reserve.7,The size of minimum area of the nature reserve was 6104hm~2 with being 19.62% of the total area of the nature reserve, which included two parts. It was necessary to establish a corridor to connect two separated parts of the minimum area for facilitating gene exchange of Francois's langur.8,Management zones of the nature reserve were divided into 3 classes. The first class belonged to the key management zone where threats can bring a serious danger to survival and distribution of Francois's langur. This type of management zone included 7 passages across river and corridor. The second class was sub-key management zone where threats may limit distribution of Francois's langur. This class was consisted of those areas with the width of being 1000m surrounding periphery of the minimum area and 3 sites where there were few individuals or no monkeys despite habitat quality was good. In the area of the third class of management zone, threats had not a direct impact on Francois's langur. This part included those households in the range of 1500m adjacent to the second class. Different management measures were taken for different classes of management zones.