Behaviour Patterns And Habitat Evaluation Of The Reintroduced Hainan Eld's Deer

Cervus eldi hainanus belong to Artiodactyla, Cervidae, Cervus, which is a subspecies endemic to China, formerly only occupied the middle and western regions of Hainan Island. Eld's deer were once distributed throughout much of Asia, their range extending from Manipur in eastern India to Indochina and southern China. Due largely to human activities and natural factors, these deer have been extirpated from much of their historical range and now persist only in small, fragmented populations. The species is currently listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and is considered endangered by the World Conservation Union (lUCN). Since the establishment of Hainan Datian National Nature Reserve in 1976, the relict population has recovered slowly, and now have established reintroduced populations in many regions. And among that the largest reintroduced population is distributing in the Houmiling Natrural Reserve. So far, we have known little of the reintroduced Hainan eld's deer. It is especially important to strengthen the feeeding, habitat, behaviour, population dynamics and characteristics of the reintroduced Hainan eld's deer for protection, scientific management and constituting protective policies. From October 2008 to September 2009, we researched the behavour patterns, habitat selection and habitat evaluation using transect survey, group scanning sampling rule and comprehensive evaluation method, and applied Arcview GIS 3.2, SPSS 17.0, Excell and so on for analyzing and processing data, the main research results are as follows:1. Group size, composition and social segregation degree of the introduced Hainan eld's deerThe frequencies and group sizes of Hainan eld's deer groups is:The frequency(73.82%) and group size(9.47±4.02) of mixed group were largest in the ruting, but male group and female group increased in the non-rutting. Group sizes were significantly different (|U|=130.00, n1=n2=6, P＜0.05) in the rutting and non-rutting. The average of social segregation index was 0.09±0.06, lower in inrutting and higher in non-rutting.2. Effects of group size and group type on vigilance behavior in the reintroduced Hainan eld's deerThere was a significant difference between group size and foraging, increased with increasing group size (F8,002= 119.343, P＜0.001). And vigilance decreased significantly with increasing in group size (F8,002=26.374,P＜0.001). Partial Correlation tests revealed that there was a significant reverse relationship between foraging and vigilance (Male:R2=-1.000, P＜0.001; Female:R2=-1.000, P＜0.001; Cow-calf: R2=-1.000, P＜0.001; Mixed:R2=-0.975, P＜0.001).3. Habitat Selection by the Released Hainan Eld's Deer in Houmiling Natural ReserveThe reintroduced Hainan eld's deer prefered habitats of meadow and tropic monsoon secondary forest at lower elevation, with mid-canopy, lower shrub cover and shady, half sunny, low and non-slope position, lesser slope, near water source, far from human disturbance.4. Habitat evaluation by the Released Hainan Eld's Deer in Houmiling Natural ReserveThe propotion of the best suitable habitat of the Houmiling Natrural Rserve for the reintroduced Hainan eld's deer is 17%, suitable babitat is 28.29%, general habitat is 20.50%, nonsuitable habitat is 41.04%.