Survey And Evaluation Of Large And Medium-sizes Mammals Diversity In The Xiaoxiangling Mountains

Large and medium-sized mammals play an important role in the ecosystem.In order to understand the diversity and occupation status of large and medium-sized mammals in the Xiaoxiangling Mountains,a survey was conducted from January 2018 to November 2020.The large and medium-sized mammals in Liziping National Nature Reserve(LZP Nature Reserve)and Yale Provincial Nature Reserve(YL Nature Reserve),which are the most representative in the region were investigated by using infrared camera trapping method(n=86),line transects method(n=36)and interview method.At the same time,the occupancy analysis was carried out based on the occupancy model.The main results are as follows:(1)A total of 24 species,13 families and 4 orders of wild large and medium-sized mammals were recorded during this survey,as well as 6 species of domestic animals.Among them,there are 5 species of first-class national key protected animals,including Ailuropoda melanoleuca,Pardofelis temminckii,Vulpes indica,Moschus berezovskii and Budorcas Tibetanus;there are 14 species of second-class national key protected animals,including Ursus thibetanus,Ailurus fulgens and so on.Cervus equinus was the new recorded species in the region.In this region,the species with highest relative abundance index(RAI),6.17%was Elaphodus cephalophus,but RAI of other species was lower than 1%.(2)The number of species recorded by infrared camera trapping method and line transects method were similar,which was 19 and 15 species,respectively,but there were some differences in the species composition.For example,Budorcas Tibetanus was detected only in the line transects survey,while Pardofelis temminckii,Nyctereutes procyonoides,Rusa unicolor and Meles leucurus were detected only in the infrared camera survey.Meanwhile,the Shannon-Wiener index obtained by infrared camera trapping method was 2.54,which was slightly higher than the result of the line transects method(2.44).The uniformity index obtained by the line transects method was 0.90,which is slightly higher than the result of the camera trap method(0.88).The combination of the two survey methods can be complementary to some extent.In addition,five species were recorded through interview,which was an important supplement to the above two methods.(3)According to Jaccard index(C_J=0.70),the similarity between the two reserves in Xiaoxiangling Mountains is high.Although,the difference in the number of species between the two reserves is only two,21 species in LZP Nature Reserve and 19 species in YL Nature Reserve,there are some differences in species composition.Four species are unique for LZP Nature Reserve,including Macaca mulatta,Pardofelis temminckii,Vulpes ferrilata,Vulpes ferrilata and Rusa unicolor;three species are unique for YL Nature Reserve,including Nyctereutes procyonoides,Pseudois nayaur and Budorcas Tibetanus.The Shannon Wiener index and evenness index of large and medium-sized mammals in LZP Nature Reserve are 1.98 and 0.70,respectively by camera trapping method,which are higher than those in YL Nature Reserve(1.48,0.55).While the Shannon Wiener index of large and medium-sized mammals in YL Nature Reserve is2.31,which is higher than that in LZP Nature Reserve by line transects method,but the evenness index is 0.85,which is lower than that in LZP Nature Reserve.(4)The spatial distribution of eight large and medium-sized species was analyzed by using the occupancy model.The results showed that only the naive occupancy estimate of Elaphodus cephalophus(?=0.59)was greater than 0.5.The detection rate(P)of all species in the occupancy analysis was lower than 0.5.Among them,Prionailurus bengalensis had the lowest detection rate(P=0.09).In the process of model analysis,the differences between the actual and estimated occupancy percentages of species such as Macaca thibetana,Prionailurus bengalensis,Moschus berezovskii,elaphodus cephalophus,Vulpes ferrilata and Martes flavigula were less than 0.1.(5)The introduction of covariates can understand the impact of environmental factors on species'territory to a certain extent.The results showed that the altitude had the greatest influence on the Macaca thibetana,Moschus berezovskii and Capricornis milneedwardsii,with the weight values of 0.63,0.79 and 0.77 respectively.Besides the altitude,the habitat type also has a deep influence on Capricornis milneedwardsii,and its weight value is 0.77.In addition,Sus scrofa and elaphodus cephalophus were also deeply affected by the covariate of habitat type and their weight values were 0.81 and0.77,respectively.In general,among the four covariates analyzed,most species are more deeply affected by habitat type and altitude,and very few species are more deeply affected by slope position.Based on the above results,the following protection suggestions are put forward:1)Strengthen the introduction of talents and investment in Yele Nature Reserve,and build a comprehensive monitoring network covering the Nature Reserve.2)Strengthen the argument and research on the reintroduction of Cuon alpinus and other top Carnivores.3)Strengthen the management of grazing.