Movement Ecology Of The Hainan Eld's Deer

Hainan Eld's deer(Cervus eldii Hainanus)is a national first-class key protected animal.It has been listed as an endangered species in the Chinese red list of endangered animal species,Appendix I species in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora,and as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.Hainan Eld's deer was once widely distributed on Hainan island,but today its wild population only lives in the Datian national nature reserve in Dongfang city,Hainan province.At present,the population of Hainan Eld's deer in the reserve is about200-300.From March 2019 to September 2020,we used GPS collar monitoring technology in the Datian National Nature Reserve of Hainan to carry out a study on the movement ecology of the Hainan Eld's deer.In this study,we wore GPS collars on the Hainan Eld's deer to record the site information and other data.Then,Arc GIS software was used to calculate the movement distance of Hainan Eld's deer,and analyze the movement characteristics of the Hainan Eld's deer in the early release period and the difference of the movement ability between the dry season and the rainy season.The correlation between the Hainan Eld's deer movement and the weather was also analyzed through the correlation analysis with rainfall weather factors.The results as follows:(1)The adaptability of wild individuals to new environment is stronger than that of captive individuals.In this study,five Hainan Eld's deer were released into Datian National Nature Reserve of Hainan Province wearing GPS collars,and the movement differences of wild individuals(3)and captive individuals(2)in adapting to the new environment in the early stage of release were analyzed.Early release was defined as the dry season(from March to June)after the release of Hainan Eld's deer.Every 30 days after release was used as a period to compare the movement rate,diffusion distance,cumulative utilization area and daily activity rhythm of the Hainan Eld's deer in each period.The movement rate and diffusion distance of captive Hainan Eld's deer increased significantly from the fourth period,and their cumulative utilization area also increased continuously,indicating that captive Hainan Eld's deer continued to explore the diffusion after release.The movement rate of wild Hainan Eld's deer did not change significantly after release,the diffusion distance decreased significantly in the third period,and their cumulative utilization area also decreased,indicating that the wild Hainan Eld's deer returned to the original release site after initial diffusion.After the release of captive Hainan Eld's deer,the daily activity rhythm changed from the daytime activity peak pattern to the morning and dusk activity peak pattern.The activity pattern of wild Hainan Eld's deer after release was always the peak pattern of morning and dusk activity.(2)There were significant differences in the motor ability between the dry season and the rainy season,and there were significant individual differences in the motor ability of the deer in different periods.In this study,11 deer wearing collars in the Datian National Nature Reserve were used to study the differences between the dry season and the rainy season,as well as the individual movement ability of the Hainan Eld's deer in different periods of time.The results showed that there was a significant difference in the movement rate between the dry season and the rainy season.In dry season,the maximum movement rate of the Hainan Eld's deer can reach 130 meters per hour and the minimum movement rate is 30 meters per hour.In the rainy season,the maximum movement speed can reach 100 meters,and in the rainy season,the minimum movement can reach 27 meters.(3)Hainan Eld's deer showed an obvious circadian activity rhythm,that is,activity in the morning and dusk,and rest at noon.Our research suggests that this phenomenon is the main reason of the temperature,shown in the activity rhythm study of other ungulates animals activity rhythm of ungulates animals affected by temperature and foraging risk form-the activity rhythm,and in the field region of basic is not affected by large carnivores,but field area is located in the tropics,long sunshine time during the day,strong solar radiation,high temperature of the reasons for Hainan Eld's deer formed-the activity rhythm.In our study,Hainan Eld's deer showed some nocturnal activity,which may also be related to the higher daytime temperature.In order to avoid high temperature in the daytime,Hainan Eld's deer lacked foraging activities,so they would conduct activities at night to supplement the lack of foraging in the daytime.(4)The movement ability of the Hainan Eld's deer is less affected by rainfall.According to our study,the movement ability of the Hainan Eld's deer in Hainan is slightly less than that in rainy weather.Rainfall may break Hainan Eld's deer grazing activity,studies have shown that the Eld's deer in rainfall weather will avoid shelter under shrubs and trees,and without rain weather for food and other Hainan Eld's deer for normal life activities,so the Hainan Eld's deer in rainfall and rainfall weather will show a slight difference of motion,it is also a Hainan Eld's deer make adaptive changes in order to adapt to the environment.Under the same rainfall condition,the movement ability of the Hainan Eld's deer also showed individual differences.