Seasonal Adaptation Strategy Of Moose Habitat Selection,Nutrition And Gut Micro-biome

Moose(Alces alces cameloides)belongs to climate sensitivity ungulate species,it had very low tolerance for thermal and adapted to cold well,summer temperature particularly limits the south edge of its distribution area;its distribution area retreated to north and northwest due to the climate warming,it is necessary to implement the research of moose ecological adaptation relationship under temperature effect.In this dissertation,we carried out field survey and sample collection work in Hanma national nature reserve,Greater Khingan mountains,Nei Monggol Autonomous Region from July,2016 to September,2018.We analyzed moose distribution,individuals,gender,diet,nutrition and fecal gut micro-biome by using camera trap monitoring,DNA genetic analysis,fecal microscopic analysis,nutritional content analysis and 16S rRNA sequence and the like experiment technology and hence,synthetically used multiple scale habitat selection model,nutritional geometry and ecological modeling technology,we studied moose habitat selection,diet composition,nutrition strategy and fecal gut micro-biome structure and function under different season and sexual within the same season,respectively,also explored seasonal temperature adaptation mechanism of moose habitat selection,nutrition and fecal gut micro-biome.The main results by research and analysis were revealed as followings:1,Research of moose habitat selection under different season and genderWe obtained moose and roe deer(Capreolus pygargus bedfordi)presence and absence data by camera trap monitoring technology.We analyzed moose habitat selection under different season and gender,and used,generalized linear model,multiple scale habitat selection model and generalized additive model.We built 120 camera trap point in study area totally,we captured 157 moose photos or videos,including 60 female moose,and 54 male moose at snowless season(from early April to mid-October),19 female moose and 24 male moose at snowy season(from mid-October to the end of March).Our results showed:moose and roe deerhabitat univariate respond insensitivity at fine scale,especially,50 m and 100 m,they existed variation at optimal scale;compared with roe deer,moose preferred to selecting the habitat with lower elevation,relatively far from larch forest and the more birch shrub abundance;at snowless season,moose more preferred to selecting lower elevation habitat than snowy season,female moose also more preferred to selecting lower elevation habitat than male at snow-less and snowy season,male moose avoided to select larch forest at snowy season,male moose avoided to select mixed broad-leaf and conifer forest at snow-less season,moose always preferred to selecting birch shrub habitat under different season and gender;to some extent,female and male moose population were spatial distribution overlap under different season and within the same season,and were overlap with roe deer.2,Research of moose diet composition and nutritional strategy under different season and genderWe collected moose fresh fecal samples and available plant samples by transect survey with interval of two months from July,2017 to September,2018,we built 10 settled transects,moose feces and available plant samples amount to 144 and 147,respectively.We analyzed moose diet composition and nutritional strategy under different season and gender,and used fecal microscopic analysis,individuals and gender identification,nutritional geometry model and one-way analysis of variance.We totally filmed 72 196 photos of plant keratinocyte by fecal microscopic analysis,including July:14 482 photos,September:10 718 photos,November 20 412 photos,January:19 746 photos,March:6 838 photos.We identified 19 moose individual at least by individuals and gender identification,including July:5 individuals.11 female in fecal samples,17 male in fecal samples;September:6 individuals,9 female in fecal samples,14 male in fecal samples;November:12 individuals,24 female in fecal samples,14 male in fecal samples;January:6 individuals,27 female in fecal samples,2 male in fecal samples;March:5 individuals,15 female in fecal samples,3 male in fecal samples.Our results showed:Moose nutritional strategy existed variation for diet,macro and micro nutrition intake.For diet composition,moose foraged aquatic plant of a certain percentage at summer and autumn,and existed difference with winter,diet diversity higher than winter;birch(Betula spp.)and willow(Salix spp.)was the staple food at each of season.For nutrition intake,at winter,moose ingested less protein,and more lipids,total carbohydrate,total energy,total structure carbohydrate and tannin than summer and autumn;at winter,moose ingested less sodium,phosphorus,potassium,magnesium,iron and manganese than summer and autumn;at summer,moose ingested more calcium than autumn and winter,less than middle winter;at autumn,moose ingested less calcium than early winter and middle winter;at autumn and winter,moose ingested more the ratio of calcium and phosphorus than summer,moose ingested the ratio of nitrogen and phosphorus did not exist variation at all of season,at winter,moose ingested less the ratio of protein and carbohydrate than summer and winter.Macro and micro nutritional strategy exist significant difference at different season.Moose diet composition and nutritional strategy only exist significant difference for different gender at summer.3,Research of moose fecal gut micro-biome structure and function under different season and genderWe analyzed moose fecal gut micro-biome structure and function feature under different season and gender,and used 16S rRNA sequence and one-way analysis of variance.We totally inspected 42 moose fecal samples,including July:10 fecal samples(5 individuals at least,7 female,3 male),September:10 fecal samples(6 individuals at least,7 female,3 male),November:10 fecal samples(8 individuals at least,5 female,1 male,1 unidentified),January:6 fecal samples(5 individuals at least 4 female,2 male),March:6 fecal samples(5 individuals at least,3 female,3 male).Our results showed:Moose had the similar phylum and genus of fecal gut micro-biome structure within summer and autumn,and there were obvious difference with winter;at winter,moose fecal gut micro-biome had more diversity than summer and autumn,and also function existed significant difference with summer and autumn;the gut micro-biome community function expression at autumn maybe the transitional period from summer to winter.Female and male moose fecal gut micro-biome structure and function only exist significant difference at summer.4,Temperature adaptation mechanism of moose habitat selection,nutrition and gut micro-biomeWe used linear model for analyzing moose temperature adaptation mechanism of moose habitat selection,nutrition and gut micro-biome.Our results showed:Moose distributed at habitat with lower temperature for avoiding thermal risk;at summer moose preferred selecting lower elevation than winter,it related to more energy intake at winter,and foraged more aquatic plant and avoided high temperature at summer;habitat selection drove the forage and nutritional strategy,forage and nutritional strategy changed the fecal gut micro-biome structure and function,and related to moose thermal adaptation and cold adaptation strategy;climate factor(temperature)was the critical ecological factor for driving the adaptation of moose habitat selection,nutrition and gut micro-biome,its ecological driving chain is "temperature change-habitat selection shift-diet composition and nutritional strategy shift-gut micro-biome structure and function shift".