Abstract: Lesser Khingan Mountains territory is situated in the areas of Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) historical distribution. In recent years, Amur tiger individuals have been registered in Lesser Khingan Mountains several times. That indicates the possibility of population restoration exists. To check the suitability of Lesser Khingan Mountains as the habitat for Amur tiger, this research has been developed. We investigated region of Lesser Khingan Mountains (PRC), Amur Region and Jewish Autonomous Region of Russian Federation as the research area. As the base for modeling we’ve used the GPS coordinates that were received from tagged reintroduced Amur tigers during the project of tiger recovering organized by Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences at 2013-2015 on the territory of Russia. Here we adopted point data to the MaxEnt model, and included the environmental data of vegetation, climate, terrain and snow cover as factors, to analyze the suitability and distribution of the potential habitat of Amur tiger in Lesser Khingan Mountains under the natural environment conditions. The results show that the potential suitable habitat area of Amur tiger in Lesser Khingan Mountains is 9600-10300 km², and it is mainly located in the North and East part of Lesser Khingan Mountains, with a small amount of scattered suitable habitat in the middle, west and southeast part. The sub suitable habitat area is 24600-27600 km², and is mainly located in the surrounding area of suitable habitat. The difference between leaf and shrub layer, evapotranspiration, normalized vegetation index, leaf area index, precipitation seasonality and precipitation in the coldest season are the main environmental variables affecting the habitat suitability of Amur tiger. The Lesser Khingan Mountains still have the natural conditions for the existence of Amur tiger population.

Key words: Amur tiger(Panthera tigris altaica), Potential habitat, Lesser Khingan Mountains, MaxEnt modeling

摘要： 小兴安岭是东北虎的历史分布区之一，近年来东北虎数次重返小兴安岭，预示了小兴安岭东北虎种群恢复的可能性。为了探明小兴安岭作为东北虎栖息地的适宜程度，本文以我国小兴安岭及俄罗斯联邦阿穆尔州、犹太自治州为整体研究区域，利用该区域内东北虎出现点数据，采用Maxent模型，以植被、气候、地形、积雪4类环境数据为基础，分析自然环境条件下小兴安岭东北虎潜在生境的适宜性及空间分布。结果显示：小兴安岭东北虎潜在适宜生境面积为0.96×10⁴~1.03 ×10⁴ km²，主要位于小兴安岭北部和东部，中部、西部和东南部有少量分散适宜生境；次适宜生境面积为2.46×10⁴~1.76 ×10⁴ km²，主要位于适宜生境周边区域；叶灌层差异、蒸散量、归一化植被指数、叶面积指数等植被相关因素及降水季节性、最冷季降水量等气候因素是影响东北虎栖息地适宜程度的主要环境特征变量。小兴安岭仍具备东北虎种群生存的自然条件。

关键词: 东北虎, 潜在生境, 小兴安岭, MaxEnt模型