Biodiv Sci ›› 2014, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (6): 717-724.  DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1003.2014.14184

Special Issue: 野生动物的红外相机监测

• Original Papers • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Distribution and abundance of Amur tiger, Amur leopard and their ungulate prey in Hunchun National Nature Reserve, Jilin

Wenhong Xiao, Limin Feng, Xiaodan Zhao, Haitao Yang, Hailong Dou, Yanchao Cheng, Pu Mou, Tianming Wang*(), Jianping Ge   

  1. School of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875
  • Received:2014-08-30 Accepted:2014-11-12 Online:2014-11-20 Published:2014-12-11
  • Contact: Wang Tianming

Abstract:

The Hunchun National Nature Reserve (HNNR) serves as core habitat for both Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) and Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) in Northeast China. To investigate the relative abundance of wildlife and human disturbance within the reserve, we analyzed images from a monitoring network of 83 camera traps deployed between April and June of 2013 in HNNR. Among the 6,060 total trap nights, 18 species of mammals were detected from the images, including four Mustelids, three Felids, two species each from Canidae, Cervidae and Sciuridae, and one species each from Suidae, Ursidae, Moschidae, Erinaceidae and Leporidae, respectively. Cameras photographed 11 tigers and 13 leopards. Relative abundance index (RAI) of tigers (0.84) was higher than that of leopards (0.48). RAIs of ungulates, from high to low, were sika deer (Cervus nippon) (2.18), Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) (1.53) and wild boar (Sus scrofa) (0.92). RAI of human activities (40.64) and livestock grazing (2.76) were both significantly higher than animal species. The data also indicated that tigers and sika deer were mainly restricted to the core zone of HNNR and that their abundance was lower in the community-based natural resource management zone. In comparison, RAIs of Amur leopard were fairly similar among the three functional zones, Siberian roe deer tended to be more abundant in the northern section of HNNR but differences were not significant, and wild boar RAI was lower in the core zone. Frequent disturbance from human activities and livestock grazing throughout the core zone may be the most negative impact on wildlife in HNNR.

Key words: camera traps, Panthera tigris altaica, Panthera pardus orientalis, relative abundance, spatial distribution, human disturbance