卡拉麦里山有蹄类自然保护区水源地蒙古野驴的活动节律: 基于红外相机监测数据

蒙古野驴(Equus hemionus)主要分布在亚洲中部的荒漠、半荒漠和荒漠草原地区, 是我国I级重点保护野生动物。因其奔跑速度快、警惕性高、分布区域偏僻, 迄今为止对其活动节律仅有半散养条件下昼间的研究。我们于2013年4-11月在新疆卡拉麦里山有蹄类自然保护区选取13处水源地, 布设28台红外相机, 对其在荒漠水源地的全天候活动节律进行了调查。结果表明: (1)蒙古野驴在春、夏、秋季的有效照片数量分别为294张、1,990张、2,679张, 其活动频率为秋季>夏季>春季。(2)蒙古野驴昼间集群平均数量大于夜间。(3)蒙古野驴在水源地具有稳定的日活动节律, 时间分配上呈典型的“U”型, 其活动在0:00-1:00达到高峰, 7:00-9:00间快速下降, 12:00-13:00和16:00-17:00是一天中的两个低谷, 在21:00-22:00间快速上升。研究水源地周围蒙古野驴的活动节律可为卡拉麦里山有蹄类自然保护区乃至新疆北部荒漠有蹄类的监测及有效保护管理提供依据, 并能对同域生存的普氏野马(Equus przewalskii)的野化工作起借鉴作用。     

阿尔金山保护区藏野驴和野牦牛夏季生境选择分析

本研究在2012至2013年进行两次调查,采用样带法和样方法在阿尔金山自然保护区东部(37°15'~37°23'N,90°11'~90°20'E)对藏野驴(Equus kiang)、野牦牛(Bos grunniens)的分布及其栖息地进行调查,共设置3条样线(总长达146.9 km)和128个样方。调查发现,藏野驴主要集中于伊协克帕提附近的荒漠草原,而野牦牛的主要栖息地位于沙山附近的阿坝堤坝草场。通过Vanderloeg和Scavia选择系数以及主成分分析,对藏野驴和野牦牛对不同环境因子(包括植被类型、植被盖度、草本种类数、土壤pH、海拔、坡度、坡向、水源)的选择性以及各因子在物种栖息地选择的重要程度进行研究,同时利用独立T检验分析两物种之间的环境变量选择差异性。结果表明,藏野驴倾向选择植被盖度小于70%,坡度2°~5°的南坡,海拔3800~4000 m,土壤pH 8.0~8.5的高寒荒漠生境;野牦牛则偏好选择植被盖度大于70%,坡度5°~15°的东坡或者北坡,海拔4200~4600 m,土壤pH 7.0~8.0,与水源距离小于1000 m的高寒荒漠草原以及沼泽草甸生境;影响藏野驴生境选择的主要因子为植被类型和坡度,而影响野牦牛生境选择的主要因子是植被盖度;虽然藏野驴和野牦牛在资源利用上存在部分重叠,但它们对栖息地植被盖度、植被高度、海拔和坡度的选择存在显著差异性(P0.05)。     

Mammal road‐type associations in Kruger National Park,South Africa: Common mammals do not avoid tar roads more than dirt roads

The majority of Africa''s parks and conservation areas have a vast road network, facilitating motorized vehicle game viewing. These roads have an influence that is both road type‐ and species‐specific, on the surrounding ecosystem. Due to their higher traffic volumes, we hypothesized that tar roads and their immediate surrounds within the Kruger National Park, South Africa, are avoided to a greater extent by medium‐to‐large mammals than comparable dirt roads in the park. We systematically recorded the presence of medium‐to‐large mammal species from our vehicle, recording data at 401 tar and 369 dirt road stops in the Kruger National Park. In addition to species presence, we also estimated the proximity of animals to the road, as well as herd sizes. Our results indicate an equal likelihood of viewing the commonly recorded medium‐to‐large mammal species from both road types. The likelihood of observing larger herd sizes was also similar between tar and dirt roads for the three most commonly observed species, African elephant (Loxodonta africana), impala (Aepyceros melampus), and plains zebra (Equus quagga), and the likelihood of viewing impala and zebra close to the road also did not differ between tar and dirt roads. However, elephant was observed more often close to tar roads, compared to dirt roads. We interpreted this as the result of potentially increased woody cover associated with more water runoff in close proximity to tar roads compared with dirt roads. Our results not only have ecological significance, supporting the notion that many of the park''s species are habituated to human infrastructure, but also management implications, informing park officials about the influence of road traffic and road type on wildlife distributions.     

蒙古野驴昼间行为的时间分配

2005年3月至2006年6月,研究了内蒙古中部中蒙边境地区蒙古野驴(Eqqus hemionus hemionus)的昼间行为及时间分配,并建立了蒙古野驴的昼间行为谱。统计分析表明,蒙古野驴用于取食的时间最多,平均超过50%,其次是站立。蒙古野驴在冬春季节(11月至次年4月)取食时间明显长于夏秋季(5～10月)。蒙古野驴一天中7:00～10:00时和16:00～18:00时为取食高峰期,11:00～14:00时为其站立和休息高峰,蒙古野驴的其他行为没有明显的高峰期。雌雄蒙古野驴昼间行为时间分配的统计分析表明,取食、运动、卧息和站立凝视无显著的性别差异,而争斗和其他行为两性的差异显著。蒙古野驴昼间用于取食的时间最长,冬春季取食时间(53·95%)多于夏秋季(48·92%)。冬春季,蒙古野驴减少了运动和站立的时间,用于卧息的时间略有增加,中午前后两个取食高峰的间隔时间明显短于夏秋季。蒙古野驴通常在草原的开阔区域取食和移动,在背风和较为隐蔽处卧息。作者进行野外观察时,蒙古野驴对观察者表现出高度的警惕。     

Effectiveness of a redesigned vaginal implant transmitter in mule deer

Our understanding of factors that limit mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations may be improved by evaluating neonatal survival as a function of dam characteristics under free-ranging conditions, which generally requires that both neonates and dams are radiocollared. The most viable technique facilitating capture of neonates from radiocollared adult females is use of vaginal implant transmitters (VITs). To date, VITs have allowed research opportunities that were not previously possible; however, VITs are often expelled from adult females prepartum, which limits their effectiveness. We redesigned an existing VIT manufactured by Advanced Telemetry Systems (ATS; Isanti, MN) by lengthening and widening wings used to retain the VIT in an adult female. Our objective was to increase VIT retention rates and thereby increase the likelihood of locating birth sites and newborn fawns. We placed the newly designed VITs in 59 adult female mule deer and evaluated the probability of retention to parturition and the probability of detecting newborn fawns. We also developed an equation for determining VIT sample size necessary to achieve a specified sample size of neonates. The probability of a VIT being retained until parturition was 0.766 (SE = 0.0605) and the probability of a VIT being retained to within 3 days of parturition was 0.894 (SE = 0.0441). In a similar study using the original VIT wings (Bishop et al. 2007 ), the probability of a VIT being retained until parturition was 0.447 (SE = 0.0468) and the probability of retention to within 3 days of parturition was 0.623 (SE = 0.0456). Thus, our design modification increased VIT retention to parturition by 0.319 (SE = 0.0765) and VIT retention to within 3 days of parturition by 0.271 (SE = 0.0634). Considering dams that retained VITs to within 3 days of parturition, the probability of detecting at least 1 neonate was 0.952 (SE = 0.0334) and the probability of detecting both fawns from twin litters was 0.588 (SE = 0.0827). We expended approximately 12 person-hours per detected neonate. As a guide for researchers planning future studies, we found that VIT sample size should approximately equal the targeted neonate sample size. Our study expands opportunities for conducting research that links adult female attributes to productivity and offspring survival in mule deer. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.     

Separating Components of Variation in Survival of Mule Deer in Colorado

ABSTRACT Survival is an important parameter for understanding population dynamics of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and other large herbivores. To understand long-term dynamics it is important to separate sampling and biological process variation in survival. Moreover, knowledge of correlations in survival across space and between young and adults can provide more informed predictions of survival in unsampled areas. We estimated survival of fawn, yearling, and adult mule deer from 4 spatially separated regions of Colorado, USA, from 1997 to 2008. We also estimated process variance in survival across time for each age and site using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. Finally, we estimated correlations in survival among sites and ages with MCMC methods. Average winter fawn survival was 0.721 (SD = 0.024) for the 4 regions. Average winter adult female survival was 0.935 (SD = 0.007). Annual adult female survival ranged from 0.803 (SD = 0.017) to 0.900 (SD = 0.028) for the 4 regions, excluding hunting mortality. The correlation between fawn and adult female survival was high, 0.563 (SD = 0.253). Correlations in winter fawn survival were higher between populations at the same latitude than they were for populations to the north and south. We used survival estimates from our analysis to inform prior distributions for a Bayesian population dynamics model from one population in Colorado and compared that model to one with noninformative prior distributions. Population models including informative prior distributions based on our results performed better than those noninformative prior distributions on survival, providing more biologically defensible results when data were sparse. Knowledge of process distributions of survival can help wildlife managers better predict future population status and understand the likely range of survival rates.     

Estimating Deer Populations Using Camera Traps and Natural Marks

Despite the ubiquity of camera traps in wildlife monitoring projects, the data gathered are rarely used to estimate wildlife population demographics, a critical step in detecting declines, managing populations, and understanding ecosystem health. In contrast to abundant white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the eastern United States, black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) in the western United States have declined over the past several decades. We tested whether passively operating camera traps can be used to quantify population characteristics for black-tailed deer. We used images of naturally occurring physical characteristics of deer to develop movement and activity data and inform a Bayesian spatial mark-resight model that estimates deer abundance, density, sex ratio, ratio of fawns to adult females, and home range size. We developed the model to account for the effect of attractants (bait) on encounter rate. We placed 13 cameras on all known water sources of a private ranch in California and provided bait once a month in front of each camera. Over 9,000 visits occurred between 24 May 2012 and 21 January 2013, and we identified 50 individual deer from ear notches or antler characteristics. We estimated density at 7.7 deer/km² in summer and 8.6 deer/km² in fall. In the summer, home ranges were 2.3 km² for females and fawns and 16.8 km² for males. Home ranges constricted slightly in fall. We estimated a sex ratio of 12.5 males/100 females, and a ratio of 47.0 fawns/100 adult females. Bait increased baseline encounter rates (visits/week) by 3.7 times in summer and 4.95 times in fall. We found slightly higher densities of deer in our study area compared to other recent studies in more mountainous areas of California, and lower male:female sex ratios. This approach shows that commonly deployed camera traps can be used to quantify population characteristics, monitor populations, and inform harvest or habitat management decisions. © 2019 The Wildlife Society.     

Interaction among deer in a chronic wasting disease endemic zone

Although it is known that chronic wasting disease (CWD) can be transmitted by both direct animal-to-animal contact and contact with contaminated environments, the relative role of each mechanism in the spread of CWD in free-ranging populations has yet to be defined. We investigated patterns of interaction between mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in order to understand how factors such as season and landscape may influence patterns of disease spread in these populations. Using location data from male and female Global Positioning System (GPS)-collared mule deer in 5 study areas located in and around a CWD-endemic zone in southern Saskatchewan, Canada, we quantified close proximity events, or events involving both spatial and temporal overlap of individuals. We defined close proximity events as occurrences in which 2 deer were located <25 m apart at the same point in time. We looked at seasonal variation in the probability of close proximity events, as well as landscape factors associated with these events when compared to areas of shared space use, or spatial overlap alone. Overall probability of an individual GPS-collared deer being located in close proximity to another GPS-collared deer was 0.092 (n = 107). The early gestation (16 Dec–31 Mar) and late gestation (1 Apr–15 May) seasons had the highest probability of close proximity events occurring, and same-sex pairs were more likely to be found in close proximity than between-sex pairs during all seasons aside from the rut (1 Nov–15 Dec). High probability of close proximity events during the gestation seasons agrees with the tendency of mule deer to aggregate into large groups during late winter and suggests that this may be an important time period for CWD transmission to occur. Close proximity events occurred more in cropland and wetland than expected based on availability, whereas close proximity events occurred less than expected in grassland. The opposite was true for spatial overlap between individuals, which occurred more than expected in areas of low elevation and rugged terrain and in grassland or shrub–wood habitats. These results suggest that cropland may be a higher risk habitat for direct and indirect CWD transmission between individuals and that, although coulees and other areas of rugged topography are less likely to be associated with close proximity events, those areas may be more likely to contain environmental contamination in CWD-affected areas due to common use by multiple deer. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.     

Differential prey use by male and female cougars in Washington

Male and female predators are often assumed to have the same effects on prey. Because of differences in body size and behavior, however, male and female predators may use different species, sexes, and ages of prey, which could have important implications for wildlife conservation and management. We tested for differential prey use by male and female cougars (Puma concolor) from 2003 to 2008 in Washington State. We predicted that male cougars would kill a greater proportion of larger and older prey (i.e., adult elk [Cervus elaphus]), whereas females would kill smaller and younger prey (i.e., elk calves, mule deer [Odocoileus hemionus]). We marked cougars with Global Positioning System (GPS) radio collars and investigated 436 predation sites. We located prey remains at 345 sites from 9 male and 9 female cougars. We detected 184 mule deer, 142 elk, and 17 remains from 4 other species. We used log-linear modeling to detect differences in species and age of prey killed among cougar reproductive classes. Solitary females and females with dependent offspring killed more mule deer than elk (143 vs. 83, P < 0.01), whereas males killed more elk than mule deer (59 vs. 41, P < 0.01). Proportionately, males killed 4 times more adult elk than did females (24% vs. 6% of kills) and females killed 2 times more adult mule deer than did males (26% vs. 15% of kills). Managers should consider the effects of sex of predator in conservation and management of ungulates, particularly when managing for sensitive species. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.     

Population studies of 17 equine STR for forensic and phylogenetic analysis

As a consequence of the close integration of horses into human society, equine DNA analysis has become relevant for forensic purposes. However, the information content of the equine Short Tandem Repeat (STR) loci commonly used for the identification or paternity testing has so far not been fully characterized. Population studies were performed for 17 polymorphic STR loci (AHT4, AHT5, ASB2, ASB17, ASB23, CA425, HMS1, HMS2, HMS3, HMS6, HMS7, HTG4, HTG6, HTG7, HTG10, LEX3 and VHL20) including 8641 horses representing 35 populations. The power of parental exclusion, polymorphic information content, expected and observed heterozygosity and probability of identity were calculated, showing that the set of 17 STRs has sufficient discriminating power for forensic analysis in almost all breeds. We also explored the reliability of individual assignment tests in identifying the correct breeds of origin for unknown samples. The overall proportion of individuals correctly assigned to a population was 97.2%. Finally, we demonstrate the phylogenetic signal of the 17 STR. We found three clusters of related breeds: (i) the cold-blooded draught breeds Haflinger, Dutch draft and Friesian; (ii) the pony breeds Shetland and Miniature horse with the Falabella, Appaloosa and Icelandic; and (iii) The Warmblood riding breeds, together with the hot-blooded Standard-bred, Thoroughbred and Arabian.