| Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), the largest cats in North Asian temperate forest, is an important indicator of forest ecosystem health. Nowadays only400-500Amur tigers survive in North Asian region, most of which live in Russia. Recovery of Its population in China requires not only existing wild source but also long-term database of Russia. Natural distribution of Amur tiger in Russia will be analyzed to explore the relationship between environment factors and the distribution of Amur tiger population, and accordingly to search for the environment factor with the greatest influences on spatial distribution of Amur tiger population, furthermore, to determine the environment factors combination most in favor of the population recovery in China.The stand structure is a significant element of Amur tiger’s habitat environment. This paper intends to solve the issue of Amur tiger’s habitat utilization botanically. Geographic Information System technique is used to analyze the relationship between the environment elements of Amur tiger’s habitat in Russia and Northeast China and the spatial distribution of such population. Independent sample Mann-Whitney U test is conducted to comparatively analyze the difference between the forest stand structures of Amur tiger’s habitat in Russia and Northeast China. The result shows that:1. Distribution region in Russia. The Amur tiger populations are mostly distributed among the Korean pine coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest, where the average height of tree is15-25m. age of stand is100-149years, crown density is0.5-0.7, average diameter is20-29cm, and the stand volume is100-120m3/ha. It can concluded that,1) the stand structure may influence the activity rhythm of Amur tiger to some extent,2) Amur tiger population mostly prefer to the higher forest with open spatial,3) the man-made interferences, such as roads, etc., disturb Amur tiger’s activity little, and4) the slope gradient and direction are not obstructers for Amur tiger’s activity.2. In Northeast China, they are mostly distributed among young and half-mature broad leaved mixed forest, where the average height of tree is10-15m, crown density is0.6-0.7, average diameter is10-20cm, and the stand volume is less than100m3/ha. It can be concluded that, the original Korean pine coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest occupies a small percentage in China. It is found in the analysis that, the forest trees mostly preferred by Amur tiger is the Quercus mongolica, and then the Tilia, dragon spruce, fir, Populus tremula L., Betula platyphylla, dahurian larch, and etc.3. The vegetation factors influencing the distribution of Amur tiger are basically the same in Russia and China. By comparing the habitat characteristics, it is found that, the stand structures are different obviously in the two countries, including average height of tree, age of stand, average diameter, and the stand volume (P<0.001). The forest type diversity of Amur tiger distribution region in China is significantly lower than Russia. Only crown density has no significant difference (P=0.180). These differences are mainly caused by the degradation of forest resource quality in China. For example, the average age, DBH, unit volume and average height in the Russian forest are superior to Chinese neighboring forests. Therefore, China is required to develop practicable management on improvement of forest quality, in order to improve the environment for Chinese Amur tiger’s habitat and guarantee the recovery of such population. |
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