Seasonal Changes Of Habitat Selection By Sika Deer (Cervus Nippon) In Qingliangfeng Nature Reserve, Zhejiang

Study of wildlife habitat selection is an important and basic part in zoology. The ungulate habitat selection can be examined in a variety of ways: the fixed plot method, the mechanical plot method, the trace-plot method. Resource Selection Functions have become popular as subjects for studying the extent of ungulate habitat selection, and some models are designed to improve the quality of experiments. Principal Components Analysis, Analysis of covariance, Discriminant Analysis and Quantitative Theory are also applied to explore the importance among the different plots used. The environmental factors that influenced ungulate habitat selection are various with different seasonal and spatial scales. All methods have their theoretical and practical aspects. Consequences of sympatric ungulates were discussed in this paper.From September 2003 to May 2004, habitat selection by sika deer was studied in Qingliangfeng Natural Reserve, Zhejiang Province, China. A total of eleven line transects were placed randomly in the study area passing through different forest types in this reserve. Sampling plots (10 m×10 m) were also set at every 200 m apart, with a total of 410 plots made in the autumn, 320 plots made in the winter and 213 plots made in the spring. Vegetation type, coverage, shrub overcast, relative food abundance, aspect, slope position, slope degree, distance to human disturbance and elevation of these plots were recorded. These line transects were examined repeatedly to record whether the plots were used by sika deer in the autumn, the winter and the spring, respectively.Resource Selection Index was used to evaluate the extent of habitat selectivity by the deer. Principal Components Analysis was employed to explore the importance among the different plots used. In the autumn and the winter, sika deer preferred to select the meadow and shrub with low coverage (<20%), high relative food abundance, upper slope, higher elevation (≥1 200 m), distance from human disturbance sources exceeding 1 000 m. In the spring, sika deer preferred to select themeadow with low coverage (<20%), high relative food abundance, lower slope, lower elevation (<1 200 m), distance from human disturbance sources within 1 000 m. Results indicated that the key factors notably influenced on habitat selection in the autumn were the elevation, slope position and human disturbance; the secondary factors were the vegetation type, coverage, relative food abundance and shrub overcast; the random factors were slope degree and aspect. The key factors significantly influenced on habitat selection in the winter were the coverage and vegetation type; the secondary factors were the elevation, slope position, human disturbance and food abundance, respectively; the random factors were the shrub overcast, slope degree and aspect. The key factors significantly influenced on habitat selection in the spring were the elevation, slope position and human disturbance; the secondary factors were the food abundance, vegetation type, coverage and shrub overcast, respectively; and the random factors were slope degree and aspect.Management evaluation of the protected areas is to evaluate the management capacities, to collect the necessary information, and to find what might be improved for the protected areas. The collected data are analyzed and the results of the analysis could serve the protected areas as the management reference. The management effectiveness of protected areas in Qingliangfeng Natural Reserve with a popular method is evaluated. The present status of the effective management of nature reserves is systematically evaluated from the aspects of basic conditions, officers and employees, the economy, the natural resources, scientific research basis, educational system and the eco-tourism. The paper puts forward to realize the sustainable management of nature reserves.