Interference competition and group size effect in sika deer (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cervus nippon</Emphasis>) at salt licks

Competition has long been considered as a confounding factor of group size effect but the understanding of interference competition is rudimentary for the difficulty in disentangling interference competition from scramble competition adequately. Here, we analysed remote-camera video records of wild sika deer (Cervus nippon) at salt licks in southern China from March 1, 2006 to November 30, 2008 to investigate how interference competition and predation risk interacted on vigilance behaviour. Scramble competition is negligible at salt licks; therefore, we could focus our interest in interference competition. We used linear mixed model to compare vigilance, licking and aggression behaviours among females with and without fawn as well as males with different group sizes to identify the primary role of vigilance behaviour in sika deer. In total, 168 individuals were recorded and observation time was 2,733.04 min. We found that deer spent much time on vigilance and scanned frequently in spring and winter, and females with fawn spent more time on vigilance than females without fawn, suggesting vigilance for predation risk. Aggression ratio increased first and then decreased, while scan frequency continued to decline and then slightly increased when group size increased from two to seven, implying vigilance for interference competition. Our results suggested vigilance in sika deer was influenced by both predation risk and interference competition, but was mainly driven by predation risk even at sites with intense interference competition. Our results of interference competition shed some light on finding the underlying mechanism of group size effect in wild populations.     

基于红外相机技术调查桃红岭梅花鹿国家级自然保护区鸟兽多样性

2017年3月—2018年3月期间,采用红外相机技术调查了桃红岭梅花鹿国家级自然保护区内鸟类和兽类的物种多样性。红外相机监测期间,共累计4442个相机日,获得野生动物独立有效照片1003张,其中兽类独立有效照片683张,共4目9科16种;鸟类独立有效照片320张,共9目23科46种;保护区内兽类相对丰富度最高的是小麂(Muntiacus reevesi),鸟类丰富度最高的是黑领噪鹛(Garrulax perspicillatus);其中国家Ⅰ级保护动物有2种,梅花鹿(Cervus nippon)和白颈长尾雉(Syrmaticus ellioti);国家Ⅱ级保护动物有6种,分别为小灵猫(Viverricula indica)、勺鸡(Pucrasia macrolopha)、白鹇(Lophura nycthemera)、草鸮(Tyto longimembris)、红角鸮(Otus sunia)和松雀鹰(Accipiter virgatus)。红外相机在灌丛中拍摄率最高,在草甸中拍摄率最低。通过稀疏外推曲线对物种多样性进行估计可得,保护区实际的物种数远大于监测到的物种数,因此有待继续进行长期监测。通过物种与相机位点的PCA排序图可知,各个相机位点和物种的相关性较强。调查结果为保护区提供了重要的兽类和鸟类资源信息,为保护区对野生动物的有效管理和长期监测提供了数据支持。     

四川梅花鹿(CAG)n微卫星文库构建

应用Dynal磁珠-生物素标记的微卫星探针与四川梅花鹿基因组酶切片段杂交,捕获200～750 bp含有微卫星序列的DNA片段,连接pMD18-T载体,再转化到感受态细胞JM109中以构建文库.通过PCR方法从(CAG)n文库中筛选阳性克隆,从576个转化子中获得了234个阳性克隆,对其全部进行序列测定,其中73个含有微卫星序列.除获得的目的微卫星序列(CAG)n外,还观察到(AG)n、(AT)n的重复序列.本研究表明,经过优化的磁珠富集法能够稳定、高效地获得四川梅花鹿微卫星标记.