Ecology Of Indian Muntjac (Muntiacus Muntjak) In Hainan Datian National Nature Reserve

Indian muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak) was studied between October 2001 and September 2002 in Hainan Datian National Nature Reserve. Food habits, activity rhythm, habitat selection, home range and population composition were the aspects investigated for this species. Tracking 6 radio-collared individuals monitored activity rhythm and home range. Meanwhile, combined with direct observation, feeding tracks analysis, live-capture and fixed transect line methods, data on food habits, habitat selection and population composition were obtained. The results are as follows.1. A total of 817 feeding sites were recorded in the reserve. There were 215 forage species that belonged to 58 families, of which we identified 114 shrubs, 95 herbages and 6 ferns. Among them, 55 species (25 families) were used above 0. 01% of feeding frequency in the feeding sites, accounting for 25.58% of all the forage species. The feeding frequency of these species comprised of 89.23% of the total feeding frequency. The vegetation directly available to muntjacs is below 1.00 m in height, sometimes between 1.0 m and 1.50 m. Food habits of Indian muntjac varied significantly between dry and wet seasons by paired-samples T test (t=2.315, P<0.001). On the basis of feeding parts, Indian muntjac belonged to browsers that preferred tender leaves, twigs and fruits.2. Usually activity patterns of Indian muntjac were regarded as crepuscular, however, activities varied individually in our study area. We conducted a paired-samples T test to determine the activities of 5 muntjacs dry and wet seasons. The results showed that F3 varied greatly significantly, F2 and M3 varied significantly. There were significant monthly differences in dry and wet seasons by LSD methods. Individual level of activity was higher in wet season than in dry season. Individual activity levels showed significant changes at the same months (F=11.537, P<0.001), and monthly activity levels showed significant differences at the same individuals (F=4.867, P<0.001) either with a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The average percent of time active over the whole year was 54.59% for dry season and 61.57% for wet season. The activity levels in the whole year showed significant changes between dry and wet seasons (t=-4.418, P<0.001) by paired-samples T test. The activity levels showed no correlation with monthly average rainfalls (r=0.454, P>0.05), temperature(r=0.457, P>0.05) and relative humidity (r=0.360, P>0.05).3. The principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the first eight principal components accounted for above 80.00% of variance in the feeding habitat data set during dry season. The first principal component represented the changes in topographic factors. The second principal component correlated with the surface factors. The third component gave priority to the space factors. The forth component correlated with the canopy factors. There were significant differences in seven habitat factors between use and random samples. During wet season, the first seven principal components accounted for 84.10% of feeding habitat data set. The first three principal components highly correlated with vegetation, shrub and topographic factors respectively. Eleven factors of feeding habitat showed significant changes between use and random samples. We carried out an independent samples T test of each feeding habitat factor between dry and wet seasons. Tree density, tree type, shrub height, shrub canopy, herbage type, distance to water source and distance to artificial disturbance differed significantly between dry and wet seasons.4. Bedding habitat selection of Indian muntjac was analyzed with a principal component analysis (PCA). During dry season, the first seven principal component comprised above 80.00% of variance in all habitat data set, among which the first four components may be called after vegetation, herbage, topographic and space factors. The paired-samples T test suggested that there were significant differences in eleven habitat fa...