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Habitat Characteristics And Seasonal Change Of Habitat Selection By Black Muntjac (Muntiacus Crinifrons)

Posted on:2008-09-07Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:L ChenFull Text:PDF
GTID:2120360215492407Subject:Ecology
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Black muntjac (muntiacus crinifrons), a typical species, is listed inthe Category I of Key Protected Wildlife List. It is only distributed in thenarrow ranges in Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian Provinces (117~121.5°E, 27.5~31°N). Because deforestation and human activities inthese regions greatly disrupted their lives and seriously devoured theirhabitats, the black muntjac population has significantly decreased. Studyon wildlife habitat selection is an important and basic part in zoology. Theungulate habitat selection can be examined in a variety of ways: the fixedplot method, the mechanical plot method, the trace plot method. Resourceselection functions have become popular as subjects for studying theextent of ungulate habitat selection, and some models are designed toimprove the quality of experiments. Principal components analysis,analysis of covariance, discriminant analysis and quantitative theory arealso applied to explore the importance among the different plots used.The environmental factors that influenced ungulate habitat selection arevarious with different seasonal and spatial scales. All methods have theirtheoretical and practical aspects. Consequences of sympatric ungulateswere discussed in this paper. From September 2005 to August 2006, habitat selection by blackmuntjac was studied in Jiulong Natural Reserve, Zhejiang Province,China. A total of 442 plots were made in the natural reserve and samplingplots(20m×20m) were set at every 200m apart. Vegetation type,coverage, arbor overcast, shrub overcast, herbage overcast, slope position,slope degree, slope exposure, relative food abundance, distance fromwater resources, distance from human disturbance and elevation of theseplots were recorded. These line transects were examined repeatedly torecord whether the plots were used by black muntjac in the spring, thesummer, the autumn and the winter, respectively. Resource SelectionIndex was used to evaluate the extent of habitat selectivity by the blackmuntjac. Principal Components Analysis was employed to explore theimportance among the different plots used. The results showed asfollows:In the spring, black muntjac preferred to select the environment ofconiferous forest and broad leaved forest with arbor overcast 61~80%,shrub overcast 61~80%, herbage overcast 21~40%, middle slope, slopedegree 16~30°, elevation between 1000m and 1200m, and distance fromhuman disturbance sources exceeding 1000m. In the summer, blackmuntjac preferred to select the environment of coniferous forest andbroad leaved forest with suitable arbor overcast(21~40% and 61~80%),shrub overcast(21~60%) and herbage overcast(21~40%), upper slope, slope degree 31°~45°, elevation(≥1200m), and distance from humandisturbance sources exceeding lO00m. In the autumn, black muntjacpreferred to select the environment of coniferous forest and broad leavedforest with arbor overcast 61~80%, shrub overcast≤40%, herbageovercast≤40%, middle slope, slope degree 16~30°, high relative foodabundance, elevation 1000m~1200m, and distance from humandisturbance sources exceeding 1000m. In the winter, black muntjacpreferred to select the environment of coniferous forest with arborovercast 61~80%, shrub overcast 21~60%, herbage overcast 41~60%,lower slope, slope degree 16~30°, high relative food abundance,elevation≤1000m, distance from human disturbance sources exceeding1000m and distance from water resource≤500m.The results of Principal Components Analysis indicated that the inthe spring, key factors notably influenced on habitat selection by blackmuntjac were the arbor overcast, slope degree, relative food abundanceand distance of human disturbance; the secondary factors were the slopeposition and elevation; the random factors were vegetation type, slopeaspect, distance from water resources. The key factors notably influencedon habitat selection by black muntjac in the summer were arbor overcast,slope degree, slope aspect, elevation and distance from humandisturbance; the secondary factors were the relative food abundance andshrub overcast. The random factors were vegetation type, slope position and distance from water resources. The key factors significantlyinfluenced on habitat selection by black muntjac in the autumn were arborovercast, slope position, slope degree and relative abundance; thesecondary factors were distance from human disturbance and distancefrom water resources; the random factors were vegetation type and slopeaspect. The key factors significantly influenced on habitat selection byblack muntjac in the winter were arbor overcast, slope position, slopedegree and distance from water resources; the secondary factors wererelative food abundance, elevation and distance from human disturbance;the random factors were vegetation type and slope aspect.The result of GANOVA show that the difference of vegetation type(F=23.386,P=0.002<0.01),distance from human disturbance(F=28.392,P=0.001<0.01), elevation (F=19.049,P=0.007<0.01),herbage overcast (F=15.596,P=0.009<0.01) were verysignificant.In analysis, difference between four seasons about arborovercast (F=8.743,P=0.017<0.05), slope position (F=9.235,P=0.031<0.05),food abundance (F=13.496,P=0.014<0.05) were significant. Shrubovercast (F=3.764,P=0.061>0.05), water resources (F=3.185,P=0.746>0.05),slope degree (F=2.681,P=0.168>0.05) and slopeaspect(F=3.47,P=0.474>0.05) were not significant.Management evaluation of the protected areas is to evaluate themanagement capacities, to collect the necessary information, and to find what might be improved for the protected. The collected data areanalyzed and the results of the analysis could serve the protected areas inJiulong Natural Reserve. The present status of the effective managementof nature reserves is systematically evaluated from the aspects of basicconditions, officers and employees, the economy, the natural resources,scientific research basis, educational system and the eco-tourism. Thepaper puts forward to realize the sustainable management of naturereserves.
Keywords/Search Tags:Jiulong Mountain Nature Reserve, Black muntjac, Habitat selection, Habitat assessment, Conservation strategy
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