气候与白昼长度变化对苏格兰拉姆岛上野化山羊种群日活动节律的影响

对生活于苏格兰西北部拉姆岛上的野化山羊(Caprahircus)种群在1981、1982和2000年三年中的日活动节律进行了分析研究。详细分析了两个主要气象因素(温度和降水)以及昼长季节变化对该种群动物的日活动节律的影响。研究结果表明,拉姆岛上野化山羊的日取食活动时间百分比随月平均温度上升而显著下降,但卧息活动时间百分比随月平均温度的上升而显著上升,而降水则对二者无显著影响。拉姆岛所在地区的昼长季节性变化明显,每年6、7月白昼时间最长,而12、1月最短。由于受昼长季节变化影响,尽管该山羊种群的日取食活动时间百分比随季节变化而由夏季到冬季增加,但其真正用于取食活动的白昼时间由夏季到冬季反而减少。研究表明,白昼时间长短的季节变化是制约该山羊种群取食活动的一个重要因素,尤其是在食物匮乏而天气寒冷、阴湿的冬季。进而探讨了这种制约作用对其冬季取食量和冬季存活率的影响,以及对种群数量的调节意义。

Influence of Climate and Daylength on the Activity Budgets of Feral Goats (Capra hircus) on the Isle of Rum, Scotland

Daytime activity budgets of feral goats (Capra hircus) were studied in 1981, 1982 and 2000 on the Isle of Rum, northwest Scotland. This paper analyzes the influence of key weather variables (temperature and rainfall) and seasonal variations in daylength on daytime activity budgets. This study showed that the percentage of daytime spent in feeding by feral goats on Rum Island decreased with average monthly temperature, while the percentage of daytime spent in lying increased and rainfall had no significant effects on the percentage daytime spent in feeding or lying. The daylength varied greatly from January to December with the longest daylength being in June and July, and the shortest one in December and January. The amount of daytime spent feeding decreased from summer to winter, although the percentage of daytime spent feeding increased greatly from summer to winter. The seasonal variations in daylength seem to be an important factor in constraining feral goats' activity, especially in the cold and wet winters when forage biomass and quality are both at their lowest level. We discuss the influence of such constraining effects on the forage intake of these goats and their winter survival rate, as well as its implication for population regulation of these goats.