Habitat Selection And Population Dynamic Of Pere David's Deer (elaphurus Davidianus) In Shishou, Hubei Province

In order to clarify the habitat selection situation and the population dynamic of Pere David's deer in Shishou Hubei province, provide basic data and scientific warranty for restoring the wild population and protecting resources of Pere David's deer, used quadrat sampling, scanning method, target tracking, trace judgment, visit investigation and so on to carry on a more systematic investigation on Pere David's deer's habitat selection, population dynamic from April 2005 to October 2006, a more detailed reliable data had been obtained. On the habitat selection of Pere David's deer,899 quadrats were random-sampled, among them,195 were sampled in winter (111 in the Reserve and 84 in Sanheyuan out of the Reserve); 409 were sampled in spring and autumn (148 in the Reserve and 261 out of the Reserve); 295 quadrats were sampled in summer (129 in the Reserve and 166 out of the Reserve). On the population dynamic, we had widely collected related data of Pere David's deer after they had been introduced from 1993 to 2004. We got the reliable related data by investigation on-the-spot after 2005, and made the data obtained before 2004 are more comprehensive and reliable after careful checking and the supplement. After statistical analysis on these data, following conclusion can be drawn:1. The chi-square test showed that Pere David's deer in Shishou preferred open habitats with rich food, farther away from human disturbance in winter; the principal component analysis showed that food richness is the key factor on David's deer's habitat selection in winter; the correlation analysis showed that correlativity between the number of Pere David's deer and their habitat variables is unremarkable;2. In spring and autumn, Pere David's deer stayed on beach or in water more frequently but meadows are their favorite habitat;3. In summer, water is the key factor for David's deer to select habitat;4. The habitat selection of Pere David's deer in and out of the Reserve was quite similar, but there were some differences because of the different habitat in and out of the Reserve;5. The quantity of Pere David's deer has been increasing by index since they were reintroduced in 1993 and 1994, the instantaneous rates of increase of the exponential models reached 0.202 in Shishou (it is 0.246 after 1998 and higher than 0.184 of Dafeng), in the Reserve and out of the Reserve was 0.157 (it is 0.226 after 1998) and 0.267 respectively.6. The life expectance of 1-year old Pere David's deer in and out of the Reserve is 5.92 and 6.66 years respectively. The sexual ratio of Pere David's deer in Shishou was about 1:1.14 ((?):(?)) before they reproduced in 2006. The population structure will maintain higher effective population sizes, and will be propitious to the development of Pere David's deer population with health and speediness. We can say that the increase of Pere David's deer population will keep higher speed in case of no man-made control.7. The Pere David's deer have been facing severe human disturbance. All kinds of human activities are disturbing Pere David's deer in different degree, such as reclamation, tree planting, fishing, picking asparagus, pasturing, reaping reeds, pick antlers of Pere David's deer, using pesticide and herbicide, artificial driving, tourism and so on.8. Supports from finance, management and technology must be strengthened to restore wild population of Pere David's deer in Shishou as soon as possible. It included the economical compensation, the habitat restore with the effective management, monitoring wild Pere David's deer's population, determining and maintaining the most suitable density of Pere David's deer and so on.