关键词: 小灵猫, 红外相机, 城市化, 相对多度, 日活动节律

Abstract

Aims:Small Indian civet (Viverricula indica) is a small carnivore of the family Viverridae, and national first-class key protected wild animal which was once widely distributed in southern China. Its population has shown a rapid downward trend in recent years. Due to the lack of understanding of the distribution area, habitat characteristics and activity rhythm of small civets, we carried out field investigation and research in Fenghuang Hill (with a high degree of urbanization) and Qi’ao Island (with a low degree of urbanization) in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province from 2021 to 2023.

Methods: We deployed 30 and 15 infrared trigger cameras respectively according to the kilometer grid, with 6,640 and 4,109 effective camera working days respectively, and obtained independent detections of 329 and 702 small Indian civets. Based on these data, we calculate the grid detection rate and relative abundance index of small Indian civets. We examined activity kernel densities to estimate the activity rhythm of small Indian civets in Fenghuang Hill and Qi’ao Island, and analyze the annual activity rule by calculate the relative abundance index with 10 days as a time window. We also examined the relationship between small Indian civets and other species by analyzing the relative abundance data from relevant literatures, and explored the impact of human disturbance in combination with population density.

Results: We found that the grid detection rate was 100% and the relative abundance index (I_RA) was 17.08 in Qi’ao Island, while the population density in Fenghuang Hill was slightly lower (grid detection rate = 92.6%, I_RA = 4.95). There was a significant negative correlation between the relative abundance and altitude of Small Indian civet (P < 0.001), indicating that they preferred to habitat in the low-altitude plains near the sea. The annual activity rhythm of the civet in Fenghuang Hill and Qi’ao Island was similar, but the daily activity rhythm was significantly different (P < 0.05). In Qi’ao Island, where urbanization is low, the diurnal activity rhythm of the civet cat is a typical “bimodal type”, while in Fenghuang Hill, which is more urbanized, it is a “stepped type”, which may be an adaptive strategy to the rhythm of human activities in the city. In terms of annual activity rhythm, the civet cat populations in Fenghuang Hill and Qi’ao Island had similar trends. We also found the relative abundance index of small Indian civets and Himalayan palm civet had a significant negative correlation (r = – 0.51, P < 0.001). The population density of Fenghuang Hill is higher than that of Qi’ao Island, which means that the activities of small Indian civets may be disturbed by human activities.

Key words: Small Indian civet (Viverricula indica), Infrared–triggered camera, Civilization, Relative abundance, Activity rhythm