The Status Of Current Population And Distribution,Winter Prey Selection And Movement Characteristics Of Amur Tigers(Panthera Tigris Altaica)in China

From 2012 to 2017,based on the comprehensive use of wild animal ecology survey and research techniques,ecology modeling method,population ecology techniques,movement ecology techniques and feeding habits analysis techniques,our research team conducted the study on the population and distribution of Amur tigers and their habitat utilization in Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces,covering Wandashan,Zhangguangcailing and Laoyeling with 137 085km2 research area.The main results were revealed as followings:1.The population,distribution and cross-border movement of Amur tiger population in ChinaFrom January 2012 to August 20 1 7,by using camera trap,fecal DNA test and information network monitoring,at least 38 Amur tigers in China(with images Or DNA test evidence)were recorded cumulatively,the specific distribution situation is as follows:In Laoyeling and Zhangguangcailing,at least 35 tigers were recorded by camera trap,of which 34(except CT22)individuals and Russia Primorskii Krai southern tiger population are in the same population.Many of them crossed the Sino-Russian border frequently.Due to the increase of this population,more individuals spread to China's side,but the female tiger diffusion distance was short.The population number in Wandashan decreased significantly.Currently,by using DNA test only two male tiger were recorded here,and by camera trap data tiger CT22 spread from Wandashan to Zhanguangcailing.At the Sino-Russian border area of Fuyuan,Amur tigers appeared and a video of the tiger was recorded by local people.2.The winter habitat distribution of Amur tiger driven by preyIn the winters of 2014-2017,a total of 281 sample lines were surveyed in 15 places in the study area.According to the information of Amur tiger in the winters of 2012 and 2017,the Maxent method was used to establish the spatial distribution prediction models of tiger and their prey(wild boar and roe deer),obtained the following results:1)In the study area,sika deer were distributed only in the Sino-Russian border area of Laoyeling.Red deer were distributed in Zhanguangciling,Laoyeling and Wandashan sporadically and the population was very small.The roe deer and the wild boar were widely distributed in 24861.44km2 and 17216.32km2 suitable habitats respectively.Railways and settlements are the most important factors affecting the distribution of roe deer and wild boar.2)The suitable habitat of Amur tiger in winter was predicted to be 10058.24km2,and there was a large contiguous distribution in Laoyeling area,some in south Zhangguangcailing and east Wandashan area,and very few suitable habitat in Wandashan.Wild boar(contribution rate of 10.2%),roe deer(contribution rate of 22.5%)and farmland(contribution rate of 18.1%)were the most important factors affecting tigers' distribution.Human disturbance factor and potential prey distribution were the main driving factors of the spatial distribution of Amur tiger population.3.The winter prey selection of Amur tiger35 feces samples of Amur tiger were collected in Hunchun during the period from 2012 to 2016 in winter.11 prey species were identified by hair morphological and DNA test.The top four species of biomass were wild boar(36.63%),roe deer(11.45%),cattle(21.79%),and sika deer(9.28%).Combined with the ungulates occurrences from winter transect survey,the Jacob's index was calculated and found that the tigers had a strong preference for wild boar(+0.849),strongly avoid hunting roe deer(-0.693).The results also show that due to grazing and other heavy human disturbance,destroyed vegetation and reduced prey made the tiger's prey selection changed in the Hunchun region compared with tigers in the southwest Primorskii Krai.4.The movement characteristics of Amur tiger at the micro-habitat scale in winterFrom 2012 to 2015,two methods were used to quantify the curvature of 23 tigers' trails.The relationship between the characteristics of tiger movement and the environmental variables was established by using the generalized additive model.The results showed that at the micro-habitat scale,tigers" movement was driven by prey(wild boar),and affected by human disturbance(settlements)and terrain changes(elevation,slope,aspect,distance to secondary road,snow depth);using wavelet analysis method to analysis each trail's analysis unit helped to obtain more detailed description of the characteristics of tiger movement than all the trails using a unified analysis unit.