关键词: 豺, 大型食肉动物, 顶级捕食者, 四川, 红外相机, 物种分布图

Abstract: Dhole (Cuon alpinus) was once widely distributed in most provinces of China and played an important role in various ecosystems as an apex predator. However, over the past few decades, both the distribution range and population of dholes in China have experienced dramatic decline. In order to investigate the historical and current distribution of dholes in Sichuan, a former important distribution province, we identified and mapped the county-level units where dholes occurred in the 1980s (historical distribution), and identified the protected areas where they are detected in camera-trapping surveys over the past 20 years (current distribution). The results showed that there were 59 county-level administrative units with dhole distribution in the 1980s, accounting for 32. 2% of the total number of county-level units and 59. 1% of the total area of the province, mainly concentrated in the plateaus in the west and northwest of Sichuan, as well as the mountainous areas in western, northern and northeastern Sichuan Basin. For the current distribution, we retrieved a total of 174 academic papers on camera-trapping surveys and monitoring conducted within Sichuan, involving 45 county-level administrative regions and 42 nature reserves. Dholes were only recorded in three nature reserves during the last two decades: Heishuihe (Dayi County, 2011), Wolong (Wenchuan County, 2015) and Zhubalong (Batang County, 2019). In addition to these three protected areas, a total of 31 protected areas (covering 30 counties) have accumulated extensive camera-trapping sampling efforts (> 4 000 camera-days) but with no detection of dholes. These results provide us preliminary information on the potential historical and current distribution of dholes within Sichuan Province, which will serve as a foundational reference for future field studies and conservation efforts dedicated to this endangered species.

Key words: Dhole(Cuon alpinus), Large carnivore, Apex predator, Sichuan, Camera-trapping, Species range map