Perez Felipe, Piao Zhengji, Liu Xuehua
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, and School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing, 100084, China.
Jilin Changbai Mountain Academy of Sciences, Antu County, Jilin, Province, 133613, People's Republic of China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2022 Feb;29(8):12249-12260. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-16469-8. Epub 2021 Sep 25.
The Changbaishan reserve and the forests around it are one of the priority areas for Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) recovery in northeastern China. Previous habitat suitability analyses only took the ecological requirements of tigers into consideration, so this study aims to determine habitat suitability for a tiger-prey community in the region, by analysing ungulate prey availability and habitat suitability for both predator and prey. Three prey species were found, using the snow tacking method: red deer (Cervus canadensis xanthopygus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), and roe deer (Capreolus pygargus). Habitat suitability was evaluated for tigers, red deer, and wild boar, using a multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) process. MCE results showed that (1) habitat suitability is generally low outside the reserve for all three species; (2) suitability values were the lowest for tigers due to high intensity of human impact in the area, with suitable habitat restricted to the centre of the reserve; and (3) red deer and wild boar would find pockets of suitable habitat outside the reserve. A combination of low forest quality and high human impact intensity imposes significant environmental pressure to those ungulates. To recover tiger population in Changbaishan, forest quality and human impacts should be properly managed, which should increase prey availability.
长白山保护区及其周边森林是中国东北地区东北虎（Panthera tigris altaica）种群恢复的重点区域之一。以往的栖息地适宜性分析仅考虑了老虎的生态需求，因此本研究旨在通过分析有蹄类猎物的可获得性以及捕食者和猎物的栖息地适宜性，来确定该地区老虎 - 猎物群落的栖息地适宜性。采用雪地追踪法发现了三种猎物：马鹿（Cervus canadensis xanthopygus）、野猪（Sus scrofa）和狍（Capreolus pygargus）。利用多标准评价（MCE）方法对老虎、马鹿和野猪的栖息地适宜性进行了评估。MCE结果表明：（1）保护区外所有三个物种的栖息地适宜性普遍较低；（2）由于该地区人类活动影响强度高，老虎的适宜性值最低，适宜栖息地仅限于保护区中心；（3）马鹿和野猪在保护区外会找到适宜栖息地的小块区域。森林质量低和人类活动影响强度高的综合因素给这些有蹄类动物带来了巨大的环境压力。为了恢复长白山的老虎种群数量，应妥善管理森林质量和人类活动影响，这将增加猎物的可获得性。
