Home Range And Habitat Selection Of Chinese Water Beer(Hydropotes Inermis) After Release In Poyang Lake During The Dry Season

Home range is the important content of animal behavior ecology and conservation biology.It can provide scientific basis for animal behavior,feeding strategy,habitat selection and other ecological processes,and is of great significance for the rational protection and improvement of animal habitat quality.The habitat selection by animals is an active selection with certain internal rules.It is an important form of individual or group to response to the environment,which is a complex and multi-level interaction process between a series of related factors.Seven captive Chinese water deer were released into the wild in Poyang lake national nature reserve at the end of October 2018.This study on home range and habitat selection of Chinese water deer after release during the dry season of Poyang lake will promote the local protection and habitat monitoring of wild Chinese water deer population,facilitate the natural wilding of wild-release Chinese water deer.Under the background of high intensity of human activities,it has important theoretical value and practical significance for the successful release of other species.This study is the first of its kind in Poyang lake.From November 1,2018 to February 28,2019,GPS satellite tracking technology and field investigation were used to track and monitor the activities of wild-release Chinese water deer in Poyang lake during the dry season.By collecting the coordinate information from GPS satellite tracking collars,the data of the movement fixes were obtained,and the size of their home range were estimated by MCP and KDE methods respectively.The habitat selection of wild-release Chinese water deer in dry season was studied by collecting habitat factor data of 90 habitats using quadrats and 260 quadrats during the monitoring period.The main results of this study are as follows:(1)They had obvious diurnal variation,with the highest during the18:00-20:00(1141.67±27.17),followed by the 0:00-3:00(872.55±37.06).During the day,there was a large amount of activity between 12:00 and 15:00(848.84±25.89).(2)The daily moving distance of wild-release Chinese water deer was between1.11-4.54 km.The average daily moving distance was 2.35±0.52 km.The female and male were 2.26±0.62 km and 2.99±0.88 km.There were no significant difference in the daily moving distance between different individuals,and it showed significant difference between the female and the male.The mean daily moving distance of wild-release Chinese water deer in different months were:November(2.09±0.59 km),February(2.09±0.29 km),December(1.92±0.51 km)and January(1.87±0.38 km).There was no significant difference in different months.(3)The MCP home range area of seven wild-release Chinese water deer ranged from 216.02 to 2105.68 hm~2,with an average of 854.21±217.64 hm~2.The KDE(95%)home range area ranged from 30.85 to 871.55 hm~2,with an average area of223.19±110.97 hm~2.The KDE(90%)home range area ranged from 28.83 to 695.71hm~2,with an average area of 167.56±90.07 hm~2.The KDE(50%)home range area ranged from 4.25 to 218.03 hm~2,with an average area of 45.53±29.27 hm~2.There were significant differences between the MCP and KDE home range area of individuals.(4)There were significant differences in home range area of individuals.The home range area of M5 was the largest,its home range area(MCP)was 2105.68 hm~2,and its home range area(95%,90%,50%KDE)were 871.55 hm~2,695.71 hm~2,218.03hm~2,respectively.Secondly,the home range area(MCP)of F3 was 931.74 hm~2,and home range area(95%,90%,50%KDE)of M7 were 212.80 hm~2,164.21 hm~2 and45.47 hm~2.The home range area(MCP)of F2 was the smallest(216.02 hm~2)and home range area(95%,90%,50%KDE)of M4 were the smallest(30.85 hm~2,19.52hm~2,4.25 hm~2).(5)The home range area of male was generally larger than that of female.The home area(MCP)of male and female were 717.71±128.79 hm~2 and 1042.07±549.12hm~2,the home range area(95%KDE)were 111.78±28.97 hm~2 and 116.18±52.83hm~2,the home range area(90%KDE)were 73.36±19.15 hm~2 and 85.51±42.25 hm~2,the home range area(50%KDE)was 12.74±4.25 hm~2 and 20.85±12.56 hm~2.(6)There were significant differences in overlap area between different individuals,and the degree of overlap between male and female was high.Chinese water deer had a common range of common range of 30.29 hm~2.There were significant differences in overlap area and overlap index between the months of November,December and February.(7)we analyzed the potential impact of ecological factors such as vegetation type,vegetation height,vegetation coverage,distance to settlements,and degree of human disturbance.The results indicated that a highly significant difference in the selection of vegetation type,vegetation height,distance to settlements and degree of human disturbance,and a significant difference in vegetation coverage.In dry period,the Chinese water deer preferred to Miscanthus sacchairflorus,Phragmitas communis,vegetation height ranging from 70 to 90 cm,and vegetation coverage ranging from50%to 69%.Chinese water deer is timid and they preferred areas that were more than500 m from settlements.