Population Status of South China Sika Deer in Taohongling National Nature Reserve
Abstract: South China sika deer ( Cervus nippon kopschi) is listed as Endangered in the IUCN Redlist and the distribution of this subspecies is declining and fragmented. South China sika deer are currently found in southern Anhui Province, northeastern Jiangxi Province, and northwestern Zhejiang Province of China. The Taohongling mountains are one of the concentration areas of the subspecies. A nature reserve was established in 1981 to protect South China sika deer and the nature reserve was promoted to national level in 2001. We used line -transect surveys to estimate sika deer numbers in the reserve in autumn 2011. Our ob- jective was to estimate the current population size in Taohongling National Nature Reserve and assess the management impact of the reserve since its establishment. We estimated the population size at 365 (2. 92 deer/km2 ) . Compared with previous popu- lation estimates, the population growth rate of the sika deer in Taohongling has slowed during recent years. Natural vegetation in the reserve has changed from a highly disturbed condition toward climax - evergreen broadleaved forest due to the strict protec- tion measures taken by the management authority of the nature reserve. However~ the climax vegetation of the Taohongling mountains might not be suitable habitat for sika deer, possibly accounting for the increasing deer dispersals from the reserve to surrounding unprotected areas. More attention should be paid to management issues arising from the increasing dispersal of sika deer from Taohongling National Nature Reverse.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
