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01 April 2020, Volume 40 Issue 2

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Home range utilization and individual dispersal of re-introduced forest musk deer(Moschus berezovskii)

LIU Jiahui, WANG Yan, BIAN Kun, TANG Jie, WANG Weifeng, GUO Linwen, WANG Bo, FANG Gu, ZHAO Lan, QI Xiaoguang

2020, 40(2):  109-119.  DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150360

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Forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) is a typical forest-dwelling Even-toed ungulate, and one of the national first-class protected animal species in China. Habitat loss is a key factor in its endangered. The premise of protecting this rare species is to know about the basic information of home range and habitat preference. It is hard to be traced in research due to the pressures from human-induced activities that has made them very timorous to humans. Thus, researches on its application of home ranges and territory defense, and the related behaviors are very scarce. In June 2017, we re-introduced eight forest musk deer, each of which was fitted with a GPS collar in Pingheliang National Nature Reserve of Shaanxi Province, China. We obtained databases of the tracking records from six collars to calculate the size of its home range by using the fixed kernel estimator method, and analyzed its habitat selection and dispersal behaviors. Our results confirmed that the re-introduced musk deer occupy respective home range during non-breeding season, which shows solitary. They preferred the areas which were rich of vegetation and close to water resource as habitats. Its individuals preferred the areas characterized by semi-shade and semi-sun steep slopes with cliffs. The results also showed that the home range and core home areas used by male deer were 168.85 ha and 40.08 ha, separately; while those used by females included 64.87 ha and 15.36 ha, respectively. During mating season, the adult male migrated toward female, leading to an overlapping of home range. Based on these data, the research showed that the home range may be higher than previous estimation, which indicated we should enlarge its basic living area in following work of conservation and management.

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The analysis on activity rhythms of several ungulates in extreme arid desert region based on infrared camera data

LI Jianliang，LI Jiaqi，WANG Liang，PEI Pengzu，MA Donghui，ZHUO Mengya, BAO Xinkang

2020, 40(2):  120-128.  DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150319

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In recent years, the method of camera-trapping has been widely used not only in the investigating on wild animal species diversity, amount and distribution, but also in the research of animal activity rhythm and behavior. We established 60 trapping stations in Gansu Anxi Extreme Arid Desert National Nature Reserve according to kilometer grid method, and did a survey effort of 14657 camera trapping days from September 2017 to September 2018. A total of 1892 independent valid photos of five desert ungulates had been collected for analyzing their activity rhythms. The results show that：(1) In the study area, the total relative abundance index of the five desert ungulates reached to 129.08, and the indices of Blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) (43.87) and Ibex (Capra ibex) (42.98) were higher than the ones of Argali (Ovis ammon) (25.38), Chigetai (Equus hemionus) (15.62) and Gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) (1.23). (2) The annual activity rhythms of the five ungulates were consistent, i.e. two activity peaks in a year. Their activities reached the maximum in June, and the second peak was in November or December. (3) The daily appearance of Chigetai at the water-drinking site reached the peak during 22:00-24:00, and the activity peak of Gazelle was during 12:00-14:00 in spring and summer. (4) The diurnal activity rhythm of the Ibex and the Blue sheep were bimodal in every season, and the second

activity peaks of the Ibex were later in dusk than the Blue sheep. Diurnal activity rhythm of the Argali were also bimodal in winter and spring, but had three activity peaks in summer and autumn. Of these three ungulates, the first activity peak was advanced and the last peak was delayed in summer. (5) The night-time relative abundance of Ibex was higher than other ungulates. The activity rhythm of the desert ungulates were influenced not only by the life cycle, behavior and sunshine rhythm, but also by their different habitats.

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The effect of rain noise on emergence behavior in least horseshoe bats

WU Xiu, LUO Bo, WANG Weiwei, GAO Huimin, DENG Yingchun, WANG Jing, FENG Jiang

2020, 40(2):  129-134.  DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150368

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The sound of rain is a common natural noise generated by raindrops striking the surface of objects. To date，the potential effect of rain noise on animals has been widely neglected. Echolocating bats rely on acoustic signals for spatial navigation，prey detection，and social communication in a dark environment，making them an ideal taxon to study the aversive impact of rain noise. Here，we used least horseshoe bats，Rhinolophus pusillus，as a model to assess whether rain noise affects emergence behavior. Field playbacks，consisting of the noise of heavy rain，silence，and intraspecific echolocation calls，were presented to bats outside the colony roost. One-way ANOVA and post-hoc tests were applied to determine differential responses of bats to different playback stimuli. Analyses revealed that the percentage of bat passes decreased 2.82-fold on average in the presence of heavy rain noise compared to the silent control. The average number of bat echolocation pulses declined 4.86-fold during playback of heavy rain noise compared to playback of silence. The duration of the colony-wide emergence was delayed 3.75 min when heavy rain noise was presented. There were no marked differences in emergence activity in the presence of intraspecific echolocation calls versus the silent control. These results indicate that the sound of heavy rain could suppress emergence behavior in least

horseshoe bats. Our findings highlight that noise disturbance imposed by rainfall may be an important determinant of rain avoidance in bats，and provides implications for the conservation and management of wild bat species.

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Effect of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway on diurnal behavioural time budgets in male Tibetan antelopes

MIAO Ziyan，WU Tong，CHEN Jiaping，WANG Dong，LI Hongqi，LIAN Xinming

2020, 40(2):  135-142.  DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150320

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The behavioural time budget affected by many factors is a trade-off between the resources acquisition and the risk defense in animals. During mating seasons, behaviours of male Tibetan antelopes were observed by the focal animal sampling in Kekexili National Nature Reserve, and all behaviours were divided into five categories, foraging, vigilance, resting, moving and ‘others’. By comparing differences in the behavioural time budget between before (2003-2004 mating season) and after (2017-2018 mating season) the operation of Qinghai-Tibet Railway, We discussed effects of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway on the behaviours in male Tibetan antelopes. Then, the effects of age on the behavioural time budget in male Tibetan antelopes were analyzed based on the data obtained during 2017-2018 mating season. According to our results, male Tibetan antelope spent more time on foraging and ‘others’ and less time on vigilance and resting after the operation of Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which indicated that the male Tibetan antelopes have gradually adapted to the emergence of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Due to different roles in mating groups, adult males owned more females than subadults and should maintain the stability of mating groups by increasing the vigilance and moving and decreasing the foraging and resting.

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Habitat assessment of black muntjac (Muntiancus cirnifrons) in the Gutianshan National Nature Reserve based on MAXENT modeling

YU Jianping, CHEN Xiaonan, YU Shunhai, LE Zhifang, SHEN Xiaoli，CAO Mingchang

2020, 40(2):  143-151.  DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150258

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The Gutianshan National Nature Reserve (GNR) is home to  a major population of black muntjac (Muntiancus cirnifrons), an endemic species of China that is faced with the threat of habitat loss and fragmentation. We used MAXENT modeling to assess the habitat suitability of black muntjac during different seasons. Data from camera-trapping collected during 2014-2017 and 12 environmental variables for GNR is used in the analysis. The results show that the habitat suitability of black muntjac in GNR changed with seasons. Distance to broad-leaved forest and elevation were major factors that influenced the habitat selection of black muntjac. The area of suitable habitats for black muntjac varied by were 2086.38 ha in spring, 2608.74 ha in summer, 2502.27 ha in autumn, and 1746.27 ha in winter, which accounted for 25.74%, 32.18%, 30.87%, and 21.54% of the GNR area in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, respectively. Most of the suitable habitats for black muntjac were in the core zone and along the northern edges of GNR. We recommended strengthening the protection and restoration of the natural vegetation in the core zone and northern edges, reducing human activities for the protection of black muntjac in GNR.

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Pathological anatomy and death cause of a stranded Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus)

ZENG Qianhui, AIERKEN Reyilamu, LI Jia, ZHONG Mingding, ZHU Qian, ZHENG Jinsong

2020, 40(2):  152-161.  DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150364

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Strandings of Risso’s dolphins(Grampus griseus) on the coastal areas of Chinese mainland are relatively scarce. On July 10th 2019, a live Risso’s dolphin stranded at Shimajiao waters in Xuwen, Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province and died in a half hour. This paper reports the external morphological characteristics, skeletal measurements, necropsy results, and death cause of this stranded Risso’s dolphin. The dolphin was an adult female with a body length of 252.0 cm and a body weight of about 130.0 kg. Its body condition was poor, with little subcutaneous blubber, but external examination revealed no apparent fatal traumas. The dolphin’s skull was 45.6 cm in length; its vertebra arrangement was C7+T12+L23+Ca24=66, with 12 pairs of ribs and 19 V-bones. Large amounts of sand were found in the respiratory and digestive tracts; Furthermore, two rubber gloves (exceeding 30 cm in size) were present in the forestomach, and there were almost no chyme or feces in the stomachs and intestines, respectively. We infer that the dolphin may not have been able to eat and digest properly due to the stomach functional obstruction caused by the gloves, resulting in excessive depletion of the subcutaneous fat layer, which eventually led to the live stranding of the weakened animal; While stranded, sand entered the respiratory tracts resulting in inadequate breathing and finally death. Our results confirm that the ingestion of marine debris is an immediate threat to marine mammals, especially to cetaceans which mainly prey on cephalopods, and thus at present marine pollution caused by hard degradable waste cannot be ignored anymore.

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A comparative study on pulmonary histochemical characteristics between plateau pika and Kunming mouse

LI Shuang, ZOU Xiaoyan, FU Lin, LIU Zhonghao, BAI Xianghui1, DU Yurong, GUO Songchang

2020, 40(2):  162-169.  DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150338

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The plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae), one of the endemic rodents inhabiting in Qinghai-Tibet plateau, has adapted well to extreme hypoxic and cold environments. Blunted hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (bHPV) plays an important role on preventing plateau pika from injury induced by hypoxia. To investigate the histochemical basis of bHPV, we examined the structural morphology and immunohistochemistry of pulmonary microvessels from the fetus, pups and adults plateau pikas. The results with Kunming mouse as the comparison species showed that the double elastic lamina was less than 25% of the circumference, suggesting there is no significant muscularization of the pulmonary microvessels (10-200μm in diameter) in plateau pika against hypoxia stress, as the ratio of medial thickness to external diameter (MT/ED) of pulmonary microvessels (of 10-50, 50-100 and 100-200μm diameter) decreased in response to the prolonged hypoxia exposure in plateau pika. In the adults, plateau pika showed a lower MT/ED10-50 than Kunming mouse did (P <0.05), but no significant difference was found in MT/ED50-100 and MT/ED100-200 between two species. In pulmonary arteriole of 10-50μm diameter, higher ratio of microvascular staining with α-SMA to microvascular staining with CD31 (SMC/EC) was detected over time in plateau pika and Kunming mouse. In comparison to Kunming mouse, obviously lower SMC/EC (P < 0.01) was observed in plateau pika at each developmental period. These results suggest that a decrease in development of smooth muscle cells in pulmonary microvessels of 10-50μm diameter probably play an important role in blunting hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction in plateau pika.

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Effects of cold acclimation and rewarming on the expression of Ucp1 and Cd137 in white adipocytes tissue of Tupaia belangeri

TAO Jieqiong, JIA Ting, LIU Lu, ZHU Wanlong, WANG Zhengkun, ZHANG Hao

2020, 40(2):  170-174.  DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150337

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In order to explore the adaptive mechanism that how does the white adipose tissue (WAT) of the tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri) reply to the change of the environmental temperature, the WAT of tree shrews, which came from three groups, the control group, cold acclimation group (28 day) and the rewarming group (28 day), were labeled by fluorescent labeled Ucp1 antibody and fluorescent labeled Cd137 antibody, and then were analyzed by the Flow cytometry to measure the white adipocytes which had Ucp1 and Cd137. As a result, the percentage of the white adipocytes which had Ucp1 and Cd137 in the cold acclimation group was higher than that in the control group significantly. Nevertheless, the percentage of the white adipocytes which had Ucp1 and Cd137 in the rewarming group was lower than that in the cold acclimation group significantly and returned to the percentage of that in the control group. The increase of the white adipocytes which had Ucp1 and Cd137 was observed in the tree shrews during cold acclimation. The browning of WAT in tree shrews could be induced during cold acclimation. The plasticity of WAT was reflected by that the percentage of the white adipocytes which had Ucp1 and Cd137 returned to what they once were after rewarming. Therefore, the plasticity regulation of WAT is also an important thermogenic mechanism for the tree shrews to adapt the changes of

ambient temperature.

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A preliminary study on the development of muskrat's musk gland and the isolation of glandular cells

LI Chenguang，AN Peipei，WANG Datao，ZHAO Quanmin，LI Chunyi

2020, 40(2):  175-182.  DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150352

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Muskrat （Ondatra zibethicus）musk is known as the best natural substitute for musk from musk deer. Muskrat musk is produced by the scent glands of the male muskrat reproductive system in spring. The glandular cells and stroma (supporting) cells are the key cells for secretion of muskrat musk. This study investigated the development stages of muskrat scent glands through the techniques of histomorphology, immunohistochemical staining and immunofluorescence. Histological and immunohistochemical staining showed that the scent glands were rich in small, rounded acini (secretory units) at the initial stage, where both the androgen level and number of the secretory cells in the scent glands were at a minimum. Coincident with the development of the scent glands, the acini became gradually bigger, and the androgen level and number of the secretory cells increased, reaching a maximum in two months. By the end of the developmental stage, the acini were atrophied and replaced by connective tissue. We further isolated and characterized the secretory

cells and supporting cells. We believe that our results have laid the foundation for constructing an in vitro system for the production of musk, which would help mitigate the short supply of musk in the market.

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Preliminary investigation on mammal and bird resources using infrared camera traps in Qianqingtang Area of Zhejiang Qingliangfeng National Nature Reserve

GUO Rui, XU Lijuan, WANG Xuchi, LIU Wei，FAN Penglai, XU Aichun

2020, 40(2):  183-192.  DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150291

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In infrared camera traps have been widely applied in biodiversity survey, which offer scientific advices for the making of conservation and management strategies. We carried out a survey on mammals and birds diversity in the Qianqingtang Area of Zhejiang’ Qingliangfeng National Nature Reserve from November 2014 to October 2016. We set up 46-51 infrared camera trap sites based on square kilometer grid method, and collected 10149 independent photos of which 88% are mammals and 12% are of birds. From the data collected, we identified 14 mammal species which belong to 5 order and 10 families, and 34 bird speciesbelong to 7 orders and 14 families. Among them, are two class I species under the State Special Protection Status: Sika deer (Cervus nippon kopschi) and Elliot’s pheasant (Syrmaticus ellioti); five class II species under State Special Protection Status-Chinese serow(Capricornis milneedwardsii), Koklass pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha), Silver pheasant (Lophura nycthemera), Crested goshawk (Accipiter trivirgatus) and Collared scops owl (Otus lettia). Furthermore, Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola), Orange-headed thrush (Geokichla citrine), Scaly thrush (Zoothera aurea), Grey-backed thrush (Turdus hortulorum), Pale thrush (Turdus pallidus), Naumann’s thrush (Turdus naumanni) and Dusky thrush (Turdus eunomus) have been discovered within this reserve for the first time. According to the result of relative abundance index (RAI), Reeves's Muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) (56.85), Sika deer (Cervus nippon kopschi) (16.25), and Wild boar (Sus scrofa) (13.91) ranked as the top three most abundant mammal species. Silver pheasant (Lophura nycthemera)(6.49), Rusty laughingthrush (Garrulax berthemyi) (2.43), Koklass pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha) (1.54) ranked as top three most abundant bird species. Furthermore, t the number of mammal and bird species at elevation of 1051-1259m was higher than that of 851-1050m, and the number of species in broadleaf forest was higher than that of coniferous forest while there was no difference in number of species between broadleaf forest and coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest . In conclusion, infrared camera traps are an effective way to survey and monitor medium-to-large mammals and some birds species. The data we gathered

could be useful in making decisions on conservation measures for Qingliangfeng National Nature Reserve.

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Spatial distribution of sympatric Rhinopithecus brelichi and Macaca thibetana in Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve, Guizhou, China

WANG Cheng, SU Haijun, HU Canshi, SHI Lei，ZHANG Mingming

2020, 40(2):  193-200.  DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150353

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In Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve, Guizhou, China, the spatial distributions of Rhinopithecus brelichi and Macaca thibetana are overlapped. In order to understand their competive coexistence relationship, camera traps were set up, from April 2017 to January 2019, to monitor the Rhinopithecus brelichi and Macaca thibetana in the area. The difference of habitat selection between Rhinopithecus brelichi and Macaca thibetana in different seasons was analyzed by using Occupancy model. The results show that Rhinopithecus brelichi and Macaca thibetana mainly distribute in the evergreen and broad-leaved, deciduous forests in the mid-alpine region, with occurrence rate of 0.85 and 0.65, respectively. Though Rhinopithecus brelichi mainly appear above 1500 m altitude. The simulation by utilizing Occupancy model suggest that during the summer, Rhinopithecus brelichi prefer evergreen and broad-leaved, deciduous forest in the mid-alpine region with lower human disturbance; and the Macaca thibetana prefer to live in other forest types. Both species show spatial avoidance (SIF = 0.87). During the winter, Rhinopithecus brelichi and Macaca thibetana prefer to live at lower altitude, with a spatial overlap of SIF = 1.09. In conclusion, the available habitats of Rhinopithecus brelichi and Macaca thibetana keep change with season, which urge them to develop a spatial coexistence strategy. Meanwhile, this study provides management department with scientific data for effective protection of Rhinopithecus brelichi and Macaca thibetana.

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Determination of blood chemistry indicators in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

YUAN Yaohua, ZHU Xianglei，LIU Qunxiu

2020, 40(2):  201-207.  DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150362

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For captive endangered species, variations of blood chemistry parameters are useful for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. From April 2018 to January 2019, blood samples from 35 captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from 14 zoos in China were collected, and 9 blood physiological parameters and 13 biochemical parameters were measured. Blood parameters between sexes and among age classes were compared. The results showed no significant sex difference in blood chemistry (P>0.05), except WBC, UREA and PHOS (P<0.05), in captive chimpanzees. PLT and ALKP concentrations decrease and CREA increases with age. The variations of values among different sex/age demonstrated by this study would benefit the diagnosis and treatment of disease in captive chimpanzees.