| Musk, secreted by musk deer (Moschus), is the raw and processed materials of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and spice. For possessing extraordinary quality, it was always precious and rare from of old, and presently its price is as much six- to eight-fold as that of gold on the international market. From 1960s to the late 1990s, the musk deer's population in China had dropped drastically from 3.5 million individuals to less than 0.1 million ones. Although poaching is admittedly the first factor resulting in the sharp decline, and habitat destruction is the second main cause, habitat restoration might play the same important role as poaching prohibition in reversing the decreasing trend of musk deer population size in the long run (Green 1986).For Forest Musk Deer (M. berezovskii) in Feng County of Shaanxi province, it had undergone the similar fate as its congener in the other distribution area of China, and at present it has been estimated that its population density was very low owing to illegal hunting and forest destruction. We studied the population density, winter habitat use, and structural characteristics of plant community in Zibaishan Nature Reserve of the county from November 2003 to December 2004. We hope that those investigations would offer basic data and reference system for M.berezovskiVs population especially habitat restoration, and help this animal regain increase potential from the survival crisis.1 The population density of M. berezovskiiUsing the method of pellet group count, the population density of M.berezovskii was surveyed in Zibaishan Nature Reserve from November through December 2004. The survey area was 148.30 ha, and the average population density {M±SE, the same as the text in this paragraph) of M. berezovskii in this reserve was 0.40 ± 0.68 ind./km~2. Based on the density above and the area size of about 50 km~2 of this reserve, it is estimated that there were about 20 individuals, which was much less than the threshold numbers (50 individuals) for the minimal viable population (MVP), so it is imperative that we should take measurement to restore this animal's population. The population density in needle broad-leaved mixed forest and deciduous broad-leaved forest were ca. 0.72 ± 0.09 and 0.22 ± 0.01 ind./km~2, respectively, and no M.berezovskii was found in shrubbery, and nested landscape of low arbor, shrub, and grass plot on the top of the mountain. Those results suggested that both the needle broad-leaved mixed forest and deciduous broad-leaved forest should be protected for the persistence of M.berezovskii.The population density was ca. 0.57 ind. /km~2 in the middle mountain area between 1700 and2 100 m (elevation) and 0.08 ind. /km~2 in the low mountain area with elevation of less than 1 700 m on the north slope of this reserve, and there was no fresh feces found in the high mountain area with elevation of more than 2 100 m.2 Winter habitat use by M. berezovskiiWe investigated winter habitat utilization by M. berezovskii in Zibaishan Nature Reserve of Feng County in Shaanxi province in the winter of 2003 and 2004. Within this reserve, 27 random transects totaling up to 107.6 km in length were investigated, and 41 fresh traces were found. In each of forty-one 10 m × 10 m habitat plots, twelve ecological variables were recorded, which were elevation, vegetation types, canopy cover, shrub cover, topography, slope direction, slope position, slope degree, matrix (ratio of surface covered by rock and rock debris within the sample of 10 m×10 m), shelter condition, distance from water source, and distance from human disturbance. Using principal component analysis (PCA), we found that distance from human disturbance, slope situation, topography, and matrix were the main contributor to the winter habitat utilization by M. berezovskii. M. berezovskii in this reserve were most found in needle broad-leaved mixed forest and deciduous broad-leaved forest with canopy of 25-75% between 1 700 and 2 500 m of elevation, where rocks and rocks debris were ubiquitous and the anthropogenic dist...
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