Niche Differentiation Among Of Three Species Of Mustelidae In Qingsong Forest Area Of Shulan City,Jilin Province

Niche refers to the position occupied by a species in terms of time and space for the purposes of survival and reproduction.It is of great significance to study the niche differences among species and how to realize the coexistence mechanism in ecological research and making scientific conservation decisions for species.As small and medium-sized carnivores,the Sable（Martes zibelina）,the Yellow-throated Marten（Martes flavigula）and the Siberian Weasel（Mustela sibirica）are often distributed in the same region in the northeast.In order to explore the coexistence mechanism of the three species,this study set up 41 infrared cameras in Qingsong Forest District,Shulan City,Jilin Province,from November 2019 to November 2022,to monitor the activity rhythm and spatial distribution of the three species,and set up 10 sample lines to assist in the investigation of the distribution of the three species.The research methods and main results are as follows:1.Daily activity rhythmIn the "overlap" package of R 3.6.3,first calculate the relative abundance index of three species of mustelidae in two periods of day and night.Then the daily activity rhythms of the three in different seasons are calculated using the kernel density estimation method.Finally,the overlap index is used to calculate the overlap degree of the daily activity rhythm of the three in different seasons and different species.Result display:（1）The results show that Sable is nocturnal(daytime-and-night relative abundance index,D_RAI=72.1%),the daily activity rhythm has certain seasonal changes（daily activity rhythm coefficient of overlap （?）=0.863,95%confidence interval is 0.721～0.911）.Yellow-throated Marten is diurnal(D_RAI=86.2%),the daily activity rhythm also has seasonal changes（（?）=0.835,95%confidence interval is 0.635～0.910）.Siberian Weasel is nocturnal(D_RAI=78.9%),There are seasonal changes in daily activity rhythm（（?）=0.763,95%confidence interval is 0.666～0.879）.（2）The diurnal activity rhythm of different species of Sable and Siberian Weasel is similar throughout the year（daily activity rhythm coefficient of overlap （?）=0.877,95%confidence interval is 0.779～0.920）,the overlapping degree of non-breeding season（（?）=0.843）is greater than that of breeding season（（?）=0.798）;The diurnal activity rhythm of Sable and Yellow-throated Marten varies greatly throughout the year（（?）=0.318,95%confidence interval is 0.283～0.460）,the overlapping degree of breeding season（（?）=0.360）is greater than that of non-breeding season（（?）=0.321）;The overlap index of daily activity rhythm of Yellow-throated Marten and Siberian Weasel is the lowest（（?）=0.308,95%confidence interval is 0.273～0.434）,the overlapping degree of breeding season（（?）=0.344）is greater than that of non-breeding season（（?）=0.289）.The results showed that the temporal niche differentiation occurred among Sable,Yellow-throated Marten and Siberian Weasel.2.HabitatThe software ENVI 5.3.1 Classic and ArcGIS 10.7 were used to interpret and process the remote sensing images and elevation data of the research area covered in 2019,and the correlation analysis of the interpreted environmental variable data was conducted using ENMTools 1.3.Finally,a total of 11 environmental variable data were selected,including deciduous broad-leaved forest,deciduous coniferous forest,mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest,evergreen coniferous forest,cultivated land,residential area,water source,road,altitude,slope and aspect.Then use the MaxEnt 3.4.1 after optimizing parameters in R 3.6.3’s "kuenm"package to model and analyze the habitat of sable,yellow-throated mink and weasel,and use ENMTools 1.3 to calculate the niche overlap of Sable,Yellow-throated Marten and Siberian Weasel in groups.The results show that:（1）The land use type of Qingsong forest area is mainly forest land,with an area of 91.94 km²,accounting for 91.4%of the total forest area.The area of deciduous broad-leaved forest is the largest,accounting for 31.7%of the total forest area,followed by evergreen coniferous forest（20.7%）and mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest（20.6%）,and the area of deciduous coniferous forest is the smallest,accounting for 16.6%of the total area.（2）The total area of Sable habitat is 8.24 km².The three environmental variables with high contribution rate to the distribution of sable habitat are altitude（44.8%）,distance from evergreen coniferous forest（26.8%）and distance from water source（18.2%）,accounting for 89.8%of the total contribution rate.The total habitat area of the Yellow-throated Marten is 15.89 km².The three environmental variables with high contribution rate to the habitat distribution of the Yellow-throated Marten are the distance from the residential area（40.0%）,the distance from the water source（23.6%）and the distance from the deciduous coniferous forest（22.6%）,accounting for 86.2%of the total contribution rate.The total habitat area of Siberian Weasel is 18.06 km².The three environmental variables with high contribution rate to the distribution of Siberian Weasel habitat are slope（35.3%）,distance from residential area（24.4%）and distance from evergreen coniferous forest（13.3%）,accounting for 73.0%of the total contribution rate.（3）The niche overlap of Sable and Yellow-throated Marten is relatively high,Schoener’s D（D）value and Hellinger’s s-based Ⅰ（Ⅰ）value are 0.533 and 0.807 respectively,and the habitat overlap area is 3.76 km²;The niche overlap of Sable and Siberian Weasel is the lowest,Schoener’s D（D）value and Hellinger’s based Ⅰ（Ⅰ）value are 0.315 and 0.599 respectively,and the habitat overlap area is 0.06 km²;The niche overlap of Siberian Weasel and Yellow-throated Marten is relatively high.Schoener’s D（D）value and Hellinger’s s-based Ⅰ（Ⅰ）value are 0.504 and 0.772 respectively,and the habitat overlap area is 3.61 km².It shows that there is spatial niche differentiation among Sable,Siberian Weasel and Yellow-throated Marten.