关键词: 红外相机, 食肉动物群落, 公益保护地, 保护互补性, 中国西南山地

Abstract

Aims: To characterize carnivore community diversity in the alpine canyon landscapes of Xinlong County, western Sichuan, China, and assess the potential complementarity of community co-managed conservation areas (CCAs) to statutory protected areas. 

Methods: We analyzed camera-trap data collected during 2018–2024 from 436 sites across 304 monitoring grids, totaling 147,823 effective camera-trap days. We compared alpha diversity and community composition among protected-area types and assessed complementarity through species sets, standardized species richness, and priority-grid coverage. 

Results: We recorded 17 carnivore species from four families. Observed grid-level species richness and Shannon diversity were significantly higher in CCAs than in statutory protected areas and areas outside protected areas. After accounting for monitoring effort, elevation, and topographic ruggedness, observed richness remained significantly higher in CCAs than outside protected areas (richness ratio = 1.30, 95% confidence interval: 1.11–1.52), whereas the difference between CCAs and statutory protected areas was not significant. Permutational multivariate analysis of variance indicated that protected-area type, elevational band, and monitoring effort were associated with differences in community composition. Within-group dispersion differed among elevational bands but not among protected-area types. CCAs recorded all 17 species detected during the survey, including three species not recorded in statutory protected areas: Pallas’s cat, beech marten, and Chinese mountain cat. Pallas’s cat and beech marten were detected only in CCAs during this survey. Rarefaction to 100 effective camera-trap days per grid identified 76 high-richness grids, of which 53 were in CCAs and six in statutory protected areas. Combining these grids with cumulative large-carnivore records identified 226 priority grids, including 142 in CCAs and 36 in statutory protected areas. 

Conclusions: Within the surveyed landscapes, CCAs showed potential complementary value through additional carnivore species records and coverage of important monitoring grids beyond statutory protected areas. These findings can inform coordinated planning and further monitoring across local conservation units.

Key words: camera trapping, carnivore community, co-managed conservation areas, conservation complementarity, Mountains of Southwest China