Relationship Between Habitat Suitability And Food Availability Of Siberian Musk Deer In The Greater Khingan Mountains

Siberian musk deer(Moschus moschiferus)is a national first-class protected animal.As a basic ecological study,habitat suitability and food availability for ungulates can provide basic data for habitat quality and habitatal tolerance assessment,as well as energy metabolism.In this study,the Greater Khingan Mountains Hanma National Nature Reserve in Inner Mongolia was selected as the research area.The monitoring data of far-infrared automatic trigger camera collected from 2016-2022 were used to analyze 13 ecological factors,including altitude,slope,aspect,river,patrol road,amount of falling wood and vegetation type,using Max Ent model and Arc GIS technology to explore the key habitat factors affecting the distribution of musk deer in different periods.In this study,field investigation and fecal sample collection of musk deer were carried out in snowy period.Food composition,food availability and edible plant nutrient supply of musk deer were quantized by nutritional experiment and fecal microscope analysis.The correlation between nutrient supply of edible plants and food composition of musk deer in snowy habitat was investigated by Transformation-based Redundancy Analysis(tb-RDA).Finally,the Generalized Additive Model(GAM)was used to investigate the correlation between the habitat suitability and food availability.The main findings are as follows:1.The results of automatic camera monitoring showed that 614 wild Siberian musk deer were detected during 2016-2022,of which 361 were snowy and 253 were non-snowy.The results of Max Ent model showed that the key habitat factors affecting the distribution of Siberian musk deer in different periods were both patrol road,altitude,herb coverage and mixed coniferous forest.The suitable distribution area of the musk deer was mainly concentrated in the central and southern part of the study area.The suitable habitat area was370.90 km~2,accounting for 34.55%of the total area in non-snowy period.The area of suitable habitat in snowy period is 321.26 km~2,accounting for 29.93%of the total area.2.There were differences in food composition ratio and food availability among different species of Siberian musk deer in snowy period.Lichen(Lichenes)(account for 50.65%)was the major food,and food availability in the habitat was not the main factor determining its food composition ratio.Siberian musk deer first ingests herbs with high carbohydrate and Na content from the habitat,and then selectively eats shrubs with high energy,protein and fat content to achieve the balance of nutrients and meet specific nutritional requirements.The results of tb-RDA showed that the total structural carbohydrates and total energy of habitat plants significantly affected the food composition of the musk deer in snowy period.Among all nutrients,the effect of Na supply on food composition was not significant.3.In snowy period,the availability of Thinopyrum(Pinus pumila)、Larch(Larix gmelinii)and Rhododendron(Ledum palustre)was significantly correlated with habitat suitability among all plants.There was a significant negative correlation between the availability of Thinopyrum pine and habitat suitability.When habitat suitability value ranges from 0 to 0.4,the availability of Larch was positively correlated with habitat suitability values,and was negatively correlated with habitat suitability value ranges from 0.4 to 1.0.There was a significant positive correlation between the availability of Rhododendron and habitat suitability.This study can fill the research gap in habitat quality assessment and habitat food resource supply of wild Siberian musk deer,and provide a theoretical reference for the conservation and restoration of wild musk deer population.