Spatial Distribution And Activity Rhythm Of Four Vertebrates In Qingliangfeng National Nature Reserve,Zhejiang Province

The spatial distribution and activity rhythm of animals are the result of long-term adaptation to nature and are determined by many external and internal factors.They are important ecological and behavioral characteristics.Taking Qingliangfeng National N ature Reserve in Zhejiang Province as the research area,using infrared camera technology,this paper investigated and analyzed the spatial distribution and activity rhythm of four vertebrates in the reserve: wild boar,elliot’s pheasant,silver pheasant and koklass pheasant.The results are as follows:(1)From March 2018 to February 2019,a total of 109 cameras were deployed in Qianqingtang and Longtangshan area of the reserve,with a total monitoring time of 39 240 camera days.The results showed that the maximum shooting rate of wild boars(Sus scrofa)in the two regions appeared at high altitude(Qianqingtang: 1100-1300 m above altitude,Longtang mountain:more than 1300 m above altitude);Wild boar tended to select deciduous broad-leaved forest(capture rate = 5.33±5.64)and coniferous broad-leaved mixed forest(3.75±3.46)in Qianqingtang,while in Longtangshan,coniferous broad-leaved mixed forest(4.32±5.21)were much preferred.There was a significant difference(P<0.01)in daily-discrepancy index α in different months and the average value of α in winter was significantly higher than that in the other seasons;besides,the average value of diurnal-nocturnal index βwas 0.861 in Qianqingtang and 0.728 in Longtangshan,which are significantly higher than the theoretical value of 13/24(P<0.01).The above results indicated that wild boar is a diurnal animal and its activity pattern in winter is not consistent with other seasons.The kernel density estimation showed that the daily activity patterns of wi ld boar varied among seasons with two apparent activity peaks of morning(08:00-10:00)and dusk(17:00-19:00)in spring,one apparent peak in winter afternoon(13:00-17:00),and no obvious peak in the other seasons.This study will help to deepen the understanding of the ecological habits of wild boar and contribute much to the wildlife management in the reserve.(2)An infrared camera was installed from January 2018 to December 2020.Over the course of 108090 days,2 185 photographs of three pheasant species(Syrmaticus ellioti,Lophura nycthemera,and Pucrasia macrolopha)were recorded.The results showed that three species of pheasants distributed in the same area in Qingliangfeng reserve were distributed in all altitude sections,and the three pheasants tended to be active in the middle and high altitude greater than 900 meters;Among different habitat types,the three pheasants prefer broad-leaved forest and mixed forest.Kernel density estimation and coefficient of overlap analyses showed that: In terms of daily activity rhythms,the three pheasant species are diurnal animals that are most active during the morning and at dusk.Also,while the daily activity rhythm overlap coefficient was high,the activity peaks of the three pheasant species did not completely overlap.The daily activity rhythms of the three pheasant species changed from season to season.Niche separation mostly occurred in the morning during the spring,autumn,and winter months,whereas the activity peaks of the species were similar in the evening.In the summer,the activity periods of all three pheasant species increased relative to the other seasons.During this time,the elliot’s pheasant maintained bimodal activity peaks in both the morning and evening(5:00-7:00 and16:00-19:00),whereas the koklass pheasant and silver pheasant shifted to a single peak pattern.The overlap coefficient for daily activity rhythms between different seasons was relatively low compared with the coefficient for the whole year,indicating that annual cumulative data could masked seasonal differences.This study reveals the spatial distribution,activity rhythm and temporal and spatial niche differentiation mechanism of the three pheasants.When the spatial dimension differentiation of the three pheasants in Qingliangfeng reserve is insufficient,they may differentiate in the temporal dimension,so as to achieve a certain niche balance,suggested that seasonal differences should be considered in future studies of activity rhythms to help understand the ecological habits of different pheasants,and provided the basis for different regions and seasonal conservation strategy of pheasant populations in the reserve.