| Chinese water deer(Hydropotes inermis Swinhoe,1870),one of the endemic species in east-Asia,was once wide spread in Liaodong Peninsula,North China Plain and both bands of Yangtze River.Due to long term environment change,especially the influence of human development and interfence,its wild population is rapidly declining,both in abundance and distribution.Chinese water deer was distributed in Shanghai,but was extinct at the beginning of 20th century.As one of the historical distribution sites,Shanghai becomes a good choice to reintroduction.For a long time,there are few research on Chinese water deer' s dispersal,home range,activity pattern,habitat selection and influence.The spatial behavior study of reintroduced deer in Shanghai may efficiently fill gaps in relative research areas.Moreover,it will lay theoretical foundation and provide with valid data and scientific reliance for future Chinese water deer reintroduction in Shanghai area.From 2008 to 2012,a series of spatial behavior studies were conducted in three Chinese water deer reintroduction sites in Shanghai.They are Songjiang Punan Woodland(SPW),Shanghai Binjiang Forest Park(SBFP)and Nanhui East Shore Wildlife Sanctuary(NES).The deer was tracked by radio-telemetry method and its fixes was recorded as well.Based on the distribution of its fixes,home range,range of activity,overlap and minimal space requirement were computed through an extention software of Geographic Imformation System(GIS).This study analyzed the deer's activity pattern in different reintroduction sites and compared them in terms of day and night,season,month,gender,etc.In addition,based on the preference to different environmental factors,we also studied its habitat selection and evaluated the influence brought to the habitats.The main results are as followed:1 DispersalAfter 3-8 days of remaining,all the bucks displayed evident dispersal,while only 33%of the doe did so.Generally,buck dispersed on the 4th or 5th day after release,while doe dispersed on the 9th day.Buck dispersed farther than doe.The first dispersal of the buck lasted for 4-5 days,while only 1-2 days for the doe.The average dispersal distance at the beginning of release was 623 ± 248 m(range 1027-255 m).It differed significantly between the buck(785 ± 210 m)and doe(462 ± 166 m)(t-test,P=0.022).It also differed significantly between the adult and the sub-adult(t-test,P=0.019).The diurnal movement distance averaged 344 ± 110 m and differed significantly in gender,with 414 ± 99 m for the buck and 274 ± 70 m for the doe(t-test,P=0.027).The average dispersal distance between the fixes and the release points ranged from 1197m to 602 m,with an average of 857 ± 173 m.There was significantly difference between the buck(1022 ± 128 m)and the doe(747 ± 93 m)(t-test,P=0.008).Most individuals displayed new dispersal during the first year's early December after release.However,the doe showed a tendency of retraction after the second year's January.2 Home range size,movement area and overlapUsing the Minimum Convex Polygon(MCP)method,the average home range size of Chinese water deer in NES was estimated to 670.93 ± 351.90 ha(range 245.47-1559.13 ha).Using the Fixed Kernel Estimation(FKE)method,the average was estimated to be 262.30 ± 134.77 ha(range 43.14-434.86 ha).The average home range core size was estimated to be 35.64 ± 21.08 ha(range 8.72-66.99 ha).It accounted for 14.54%±4.12%of the home range averagely(range 8.79-20.22%).The average home range size of the buck was estimated to be 493.58 ± 229.53 ha(MCP),and 258.17 ± 131.77 ha(FKE).The average home range core size of the buck was estimated to be 27.95 ± 11.29 ha,which accounted for 13.07%± 4.43 of the buck's home range.The average home range size of the doe was estimated to be 787.66 ± 389.95 ha(MCP),and 265.05 ± 108.15 ha(FKE).The average home range core size of the doe was estimated to be 40.77 ± 22.01 ha,which accounted for 13.87%± 3.30%of doe's home range.There was no difference between the buck and the doe.The largest home range size(MCP,275.33 ± 139.18 ha)occurred during the first year's winter,which then kept shrinking in spring and finally stopped in summer(MCP,120.06 ± 111.78 ha).A significant difference could be found between winter and summer,while not between other seasons.Home range overlap could be found among each individual deer's home range in NES.The average overlap size was 302.55 ± 227.39 ha(range 5.35-851.40 ha).The average overlap size among the buck was134.92± 135.31 ha,422.11 ± 207.73 ha in doe,and 269.73 ± 225.59 ha between the buck and the doe.There was an extremely significant difference between the genders(t-test,P=0.006),as well as a significant difference between the doe(t-test,P=0.041).Adult doe's average home range overlap size was 202.90 ± 109.37 ha,and 700.41 ± 156.18 ha in sub-adults.In winter,the home range overlap size was the biggest.The home range overlap degree was 0.4464± 0.2562 on average,with 0.2894 ± 0.2350 among the buck,0.5504 ± 0.2028 among the doe and 0.4206 ± 0.2726 between the buck and the doe.The overlap degree differed significantly between the gender(t-test,P=0.019).The minimal space requirement of the Chinese water deer in NES ranged from 416.13 ha to 1152.23 ha,with the average of 508.92 ± 262.36 ha.There was no difference(t-test,P=0.265)between the genders(389.99 ± 155.85 ha in buck,588.21± 267.09 ha in doe).In does,the minimal space requirement of the adult was 422.83± 7.23 ha,and 753.60 ± 296.51 ha in sub-adults,with no difference in each other(t-test,P=0.190)The seasonally average minimal space requirement of each individual was 162.02 ± 57.56 ha.Using MCP method,the movement area in SBFP ranged from 24.94 to 83.24 ha,with an average of 58.74 ± 24.70 ha.While using FKE method,it ranged from 11.23 to 41.52 ha,with an average of 26.93 ± 12.39 ha.The core area was rather small and averaged only 3.21 ± 1.39 ha(range 1.40-4.80 ha).The core area took the percentage of 8.29%to 17.10%to the home range,with an average of 12.64%± 3.60%.Seasonally,movement area in spring was only half than that in winter.January of 2011 had the biggest average movement area,while May had the smallest.Each of the three individuals in SBFP overlapped on their yearly movement area.The overlap area averaged 34.97 ± 25.03 ha,with an overlap degree of 0.5994 ±0.2182.In addition,the overlap area was bigger in winter than in spring.The minimal space requirement of three deer ranged from 19.02 to 56.38 ha,with an average of 40.12 ± 19.15 ha,which was bigger in winter than in spring respectively.3 Activity patternThe average activity intensity of three reintroduced Chinese water deer in SPW was 144.88 ± 6.96 m/h.Although they occupied a higher intensity at night(149.80 ±169.08 m/h)than at daytime(137.31 ± 152.49 m/h),there showed no difference(Mann-Whitney U-test,Z=-1.107,P=0.263).The deer showed a highest mean activity intensity in summer(June)and lowest in spring(March).In the morning(05:00-08:00)and in the evening(18:00-21:00)diurnally,the deer showed activity peek.In summer and autumn,the deer had strong crepuscular activity,as well as a peek before dawn in autumn.The doe showed a stronger characteristic in crepuscular activity than the buck.In SBFP,the average activity intensity of reintroduced Chinese water deer was 69.90 ± 16.19 m/h,with an extremely significant difference between the gender(Mann-Whitney U-test,Z=-5.872,P=0.000,Z=-5.714,P=0.000).The average activity intensity in the daytime was 80.21 ± 104.45 m/h which was higher than the night(65.13 ± 56.66 m/h).But there was no difference between them(Mann-Whitney U-test,Z=-0.297,p=0.766).The average activity intensity in winter was significantly higher than the spring(Mann-Whitney U-test,Z-3.257,P=0.000).The average activity intensity of buck(No.073)was significantly different from does(No.893)both in winter and spring.The highest value of average activity intensity of different months happened appeared in December,while the lowest appeared in May.The reintroduced Chinese water deer in Binjiang did not have strong crepuscular activity.And instead,they had activity peek in the noon(09:00-11:00),especially the buck.In NES,the average movement distance of reintroduced Chinese water deer per day was 480 ± 184 m,while the buck was 425 ± 219 m and the doe was 539 ± 119 m with no difference between them(t-test,P=0.347).The biggest value of average movement distance per day was 3058 m.The average movement distance per two weeks was 428 ± 228 m,while the buck was 371 ± 266 m and the doe was 476 ± 178 m with no difference between them(t-test,P=0.350).The biggest value of average movement distance per day and per two weeks both appeared in winter,while the smallest value both appeared in summer.4 Habitat selection and influenceWe recorded 128 and 170 kinds of plant species in SPW and SBFP respectively.Among them,18 and 12 species are eatable to Chinese water deer.After release in SPW,the herb cover and plant height showed a continuous significant decrease.Moreover,while total nitrogen,nitrite nitrogen and chlorophyll increased greatly.In SBFP,reintroduced Chinese water deer frequently appeared in Ecological Forest Protection Area,patches with an area of 0.3-0,5 ha,areas with a distance of 70-100 m to water,the coverage of herbaceous with 70-90%and the height of herbaceous with 15-20 cm.The deer showed a tendency in choosing Ecological Forest Protection Area,East Plantation Area and Botanical Garden.In addition,they tend to choose patches with an area of 1-2 ha,and areas with a distance of 50-70 m and over 150 m to water.As to plant factors,the deer tend to choose areas with more wild herbs,proper density of arbors or shrubs,arbors at the height among 10-15 m and herbs at the height among 5-10 cm.They avoided to choose areas without any vegetation or with lower herb cover(<5cm)or short arbors(<5m). |
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