Süld Karmen, Saarma Urmas, Valdmann Harri
Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
PLoS One. 2017 Mar 8;12(3):e0171805. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171805. eCollection 2017.
Knowledge of space use is central to understand animals' role in ecosystems. The raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides is considered as one of the most influential alien mesopredator species in Europe, having the potential to cause loss of local biodiversity and act as a vector for zoonotic diseases. We collared 12 animals to study their home range and habitat use in two areas with different management regimes in Estonia: in a protected natural area and in an intensively managed area. From May to October raccoon dogs inhabiting the natural area had considerably smaller home ranges compared to the managed area, 193.3ha±37.3SD and 391.9ha±292.9SD, respectively. This result contradicts somewhat earlier findings in other European raccoon dog populations, where the home range sizes in natural areas in summer and autumn period have usually been larger compared to managed areas. In both study areas raccoon dogs preferred watersides, where amphibians and other semi-aquatic prey are abundant, to other habitats available in their home ranges. We also studied movements of a raccoon dog pair in the managed study area in winter period. Due to mild weather conditions during the study period, raccoon dogs changed their resting sites quite often, covering a relatively large 599 ha area from November 2012 to January 2013, indicating the absence of usual winter lethargy during the mild winters.
了解空间利用情况对于理解动物在生态系统中的作用至关重要。貉（Nyctereutes procyonoides）被认为是欧洲最具影响力的外来中型食肉动物物种之一，有可能导致当地生物多样性丧失，并成为人畜共患病的传播媒介。我们给12只貉戴上项圈，以研究它们在爱沙尼亚两个管理方式不同的地区的家域和栖息地利用情况：一个是受保护的自然区域，另一个是集约管理区域。从5月到10月，栖息在自然区域的貉的家域明显小于管理区域的貉，分别为193.3公顷±37.3标准差和391.9公顷±292.9标准差。这一结果与欧洲其他貉种群稍早的研究结果有些矛盾，在那些研究中，自然区域夏季和秋季的家域大小通常比管理区域的大。在两个研究区域，貉都更喜欢水边，因为那里有丰富的两栖动物和其他半水生猎物，而不是它们家域内的其他栖息地。我们还研究了一对貉在冬季管理研究区域内的活动情况。由于研究期间天气温和，貉经常更换休息地点，在2012年11月至2013年1月期间覆盖了相对较大的599公顷区域，这表明在暖冬期间没有出现通常的冬季蛰伏现象。
