Study On Home Range Utilization Of Chinese Water Deer After Release In Poyang Lake Based On 3S Technology

Home range is the most basic and important content of animal behavior ecology and conservation biology.It has crucial significance for the study of feeding strategy,habitat selection,animal behavior and other ecological research.The population of Chinese water deer(Hydropotes inermis Swinhoe,1870)in Poyang Lake is a largest Chinese water deer population in China.Due to human disturbance and the floods in Poyang Lake,its population had declined sharply.In the study,13 Chinese water deer with GPS tracking collars were released in Jishan Island of Poyang Lake Nanji Wetland National Nature Reserve and Banghu lake of Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve,Jiangxi at the end of December 2015 and the end of October 2018,respectively 3S technology,MCP and KDE methods were used to analyze the motion range,home range,activity model and the spatial distribution under different water level.The main results of this study are as follows:1.Motion rangeThe motion range of Chinese water deer was between 9.27-2480.92 hm~2.Most Chinese water deer would spread out to find suitable habitat after 2-7 days of release.The range of motion by Chinese water deer after release was located in the grassland and woodland in Beibian village and Jishan mountain in Jishan Island,and the motion range in Banghu Lake was mainly in the grassland around Banghu Lake,Zhushi Lake and Lutan.2.The home rangeThe home range core(50% KDE)area of thirteen wild-release Chinese water deer ranged from 1.43 to 330.66 hm~2,with an average of 61.27 ± 25.61 hm~2.The home range(95%)area ranged from 10.42 to 1705.21 hm~2,with an average of 369.52 ± 129.74 hm~2.The monthly home range area of wild-release Chinese water deer had obvious variation among different months.The monthly home range area was the largest in March 2016(393.61 ± 275.61 hm~2),and smallest in June 2016(1.11 ± 0.00 hm~2)for the Chinese water deer in Nanji Island;The monthly home range area was the largest in December 2019(640.27 ± 518.02 hm~2),and smallest in April 2020(21.54 ± 4.83 hm~2)for others in Banghu Lake.There was a significant negative correlation between the monthly home range and water level of Poyang Lake.There were no significant difference between dry season and wet season,the breeding season and non-breeding season for the home range area of wild-released Chinese water deer.But the home range area in dry season(528.47 ± 243.57 hm~2)and breeding season(357.47 ± 173.98 hm~2)was more than that in wet season(348.08 ±143.35 hm~2)and non-breeding season(201.92 ± 118.77 hm~2).3.The activity modelThere were significant difference in the daily movement distance of Chinese water deer between Jishan Island and Banghu Lake.The daily movement distance of Chinese water deer in Banghu Lake(1666.63 ± 28.53 m)was greater than that in Jishan Island.This may be due to the limited area of Jishan Island,which restricts the activities of Chinese water deer.Besides,the long interval location of GPS tracking collar in Jishan Island maybe the one reason for this difference.The amount of activity sites of the wild-release Chinese water deer drastically varied in different periods,but its activity rhythm is very similar.The daily peak of Chinese water deer was at night,and there were three peaks of activity in one day,which are 0:00-6:00,12:00,18:00-20:00.It was similar to the wild Chinese water deer in Poyang Lake.4.The spatial distributionThe water level of Poyang Lake had a significant impact on the landscape pattern of the lake and the habitat selection of Chinese water deer.As the water level rise,the area of grassland gradually shifts to the water landscape.Chinese water deer migrates from the grassland around Banghu Lake to the woodland and farmland around Wucheng Island.