Study On Diets Analysis Of Water Deer(Hydropotes Inermis)in The Baishan Musk Deer National Nature Reserve In Jilin Province

Water deer(Hydropotes inermis)is one of the most common large ruminants belonging to order Artiodactyla and family Cervidae.Globally,water deer is listed as Vulnerable and a national key protecting animal of second class in China.It has been reported that there are currently only three main distribution areas of water deer in China—the Zhoushan Islands in Zhejiang Province,the Poyang Lake area in Jiangxi Province and the coastal tidal flat area in Jiangsu Province.Recently,our research group rediscovered water deer in the Baishan Musk Deer National Nature Reserve in Jilin Province.This area is far away from the main distribution areas of water deer and there are also significant differences in climate and vegetation characteristics.Therefore,there is an urgent need to conduct a series of research on the ecological issues of water deer in Northeast of China.As one of the important contents of basic ecological research,the research on diet of water deer can understand the characteristics of habitat selection and other characteristics of water deer in protected areas.It can also provide reference for the scientific management and protection work of protected area staff.The diet of water deer in the Baishan Musk Deer National Nature Reserve were studied from October 2019 to January 2022 in this research.The results showed that:1.Water deer foraged for 85 species of plants in 43 families throughout the year.According to the classification of plants,forbs accounted for 52.94%,graminoids accounted for 5.88%,woody plants accounted for 35.29% and ferns accounted for 5.88%.Water deer mainly foraged for forbs throughout the year and also foraged for a certain amount of woody plants,preferring to forage for Leguminosae and Compositae throughout the year.2.Water deer foraged for 59 species of plants in 34 families in spring.Leguminosae(22.35%),Compositae(16.98%),Aceraceae(6.95%),Fagaceae(6.16%),Gramineae(5.53%)and Equisetaceae(4.03%)accounted for a higher proportion in the spring food composition of water deer.The proportions of forbs,woody plants,ferns and graminoids decreased sequentially in the spring food composition of water deer,accounting for 51.11%,36.49%,6.87% and 5.53%,respectively.3.Water deer foraged for 68 species of plants in 36 families in summer.Leguminosae,Compositae,Polygonaceae,Rosaceae,Gramineae and Fagaceae accounted for a higher proportion in the summer food composition of water deer,accounting for 25.56%,12.54%,10.49%,8.28%,7.26% and 4.89%,respectively.The proportions of forbs,woody plants,graminoids and ferns in the summer food composition of water deer decreased sequentially,accounting for 65.14%,23.82%,7.26% and 3.79%,respectively.4.Water deer foraged for 53 species of plants in 29 families in autumn.Leguminosae(33.21%),Compositae(11.34%),Fagaceae(9.94%),Gramineae(6.82%),Aceraceae(6.44%)and Convolvulaceae(4.91%)accounted for a higher proportion in the autumn food composition of water deer.The proportions of forbs,woody plants,graminoids and ferns in the autumn food composition of water deer decreased in sequence,and the proportions were 55.13%,32.44%,6.82% and 5.61%,respectively.5.Water deer foraged for 34 species of plants in 21 families in winter.Aceraceae,Leguminosae,Fagaceae,Equisetaceae,Rosaceae and Tiliaceae accounted for a higher proportion in the winter food composition of water deer,accounting for 22.74%,14.28%,11.37%,9.96%,7.44% and 4.83%,respectively.The proportion of woody plants,forbs,ferns and graminoids in the winter food composition of water deer decreased in sequence,and the proportions were63.56%,20.65%,11.42% and 4.38%,respectively.6.The proportions of water deer foraging for plants of different families were also different in different seasons.The proportion of Leguminosae and Compositae browsed by water deer were the top two in the diet composition of water deer in each season except in winter while Aceraceae were more browsed by water deer except in summer.Equisetaceae had a higher proportion in spring and winter.Water deer browsed more Convolvulaceae in autumn.Rosaceae had a higher proportion in the diet composition of water deer in summer and winter.The proportion of water deer feeding on Tiliaceae in winter was higher than that in other seasons.