Habitat Selection Of Eurasian Badger (Meles Meles Amurensis) In Zhangguangcai Mountains

From April 2008 to August 2009, habitat selection of Eurasian badger (Meles meles amurensis) was studied during spring,summer and autumn in Xinfeng Forest Farm of Fangzheng Forestry Bureau which is located in Zhangguangcai Mountains. We determined the badger habitat through examination of tracks and caves used by badger located on 23 transects in 15 compartments throughout the whole study area, and measured 18 ecological factors from 612 used sites and controlled plots.We measured 55 cave habitat used sites and controlled plots for studing the cave habitat selection of Eurasian badger.All collected datum were analyzed by SPSS15.0. The results are as the follows:In spring, Eurasian badger preferred to select broad-leaved forest, dominant tree by Quercus mongolica, lower tree density,shorter tree height and farther to trees, slightly higher shrub density and closer to shrubs, lower canopy closure and herbage coverage, closer to water resource, slope on more moderate, southerly aspects and higher Slope position. The resource selection functions of the habitat is a log-linear model:P=ez/(l+ez),z=0.608-1.378×dominant tree-1.490×tree density-2.111×canopy closure+1.102×shrub density-3.467×herbage coverage-0.965×slope degree-1.994×aspect, the overall classification model developed from those seven variables was successful to distinguish the habitat from random ones at probability of 94.0%. The model also indicated that the spring habitat selection of badger was positively related to the shrub density, negatively related to the dominant tree, tree density, canopy closure,herbage coverage,slope degree and aspect.In summer, Eurasian badger preferred to select dominant tree by Tilia amurensis, slightly lower tree density, lower canopy closure and herbage coverage, slightly higher shrub density, lower shrub height, and closer to shrubs, slope on half shade and half shine, higher Slope position. The resource selection functions of the habitat is a log-linear model:P= ez/(1+ez), z=0.843-0.902×elevation-0.830×canopy closure+4.298×shrub density-2.849×herbage coverage-0.654×slope degree, the overall classification model developed from those five variables was successful to distinguish the habitat from random ones at probability of 89.0%. The model also indicated that the summer habitat selection of badger was positively related to the shrub density, negatively related to the elevation,canopy closure,herbage coverage and slope degree.In autumn, Eurasian badger preferred to select slope on southerly aspects, dominant trees by Tilia amurensis and Phellodendron amurense, slightly higher shrub density, shrub height, and closer to shrubs. The resource selection functions of the habitat is a log-linear model:P= ez/(1+ez), z=-0.036+0.671×tree density-1.092×canopy closure+1.751×shrub density-1.388×herbage coverage-0.931×aspect. the overall classification model developed from those five variables was successful to distinguish the habitat from random ones at probability of 86.5%. The model also indicated that the autumn habitat selection of badger was positively related to tree density and the shrub density, negatively related to the canopy closure,herbage coverage and aspect.Comparison of spring,summer and autumn:Chi-square showed a significant difference in herbage coverage, aspect, slope position and dominant tree. One-way analysis of variance showed a significant difference in tree density, distance to the nearest tree, shrub height, herbage coverage, distance to water resource, distance to cropland, distance to human disturbance, no significant difference in elevation, tree height, average diameter at breast height of the nearest tree, canopy closure, shrub density, distance to the nearest shrub and slope degree.We determined 55 groups of badger cave, the size of cave is (27.40±14.30) cm, the depth of cave is (84.18±44.07) cm, the obliquity of cave is (26.36±18.2)°, the total of cave= 3.02 favoritely-used cave+0.80 rarely-used cave+0.56 discarded cave. Comparison of cave sites of badger and controlled plots,The cave of eurasian badger preferred to select lower canopy closure and herbage coverage, higher shrub density and closer to shrubs, farther to trees and human disturbance, closer to water resource and cropland, slope on more moderate, southerly aspects and middle Slope position. The resource selection functions of the habitat is a log-linear model:P= ez/(1+ez), z=246.980-1.059×herbage coverage-0.703×distance to water resource-1.403×slope degree-45.005×aspect. the overall classification model developed from those four variables was successful to distinguish the habitat from random ones at probability of 93.9%. The model also indicated that the cave habitat selection of badger was negatively related to the herbage coverage,distance to water resource,slope degree and aspect.