Bista Damber, Baxter Greg S, Hudson Nicholas J, Murray Peter J
School of Agriculture and Food Sciences (Wildlife Science Unit), The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia.
School of Agriculture and Environmental Science, University of Southern Queensland, Darling Heights, QLD 4350, Australia.
Curr Zool. 2022 Feb 26;69(1):1-11. doi: 10.1093/cz/zoac014. eCollection 2023 Feb.
Human-dominated landscapes provide heterogeneous wildlife habitat. Conservation of habitat specialists, like red pandas , inhabiting such landscapes is challenging. Therefore, information on resource use across spatial and temporal scales could enable informed-decision making with better conservation outcomes. We aimed to examine the effect of geo-physical, vegetation, and disturbance variables on fine-scale habitat selection of red pandas in one such landscape. We equipped 10 red pandas with GPS collars in eastern Nepal in 2019 and monitored them for 1 year. Our analysis was based on a generalized-linear-mixed model. We found the combined effect of geo-physical, vegetation, and disturbance variables resulted in differences in resource selection of red pandas and that the degree of response to these variables varied across seasons. Human disturbances, especially road and cattle herding activities, affected habitat utilization throughout the year whereas other variables were important only during restricted periods. For instance, geo-physical variables were influential in the premating and cub-rearing seasons while vegetation variables were important in all seasons other than premating. Red pandas selected steeper slopes with high solar insolation in the premating season while they occupied elevated areas and preferred specific aspects in the cub-rearing season. Furthermore, the utilized areas had tall bamboo in the birthing and cub-rearing seasons while they also preferred diverse tree species and high shrub cover in the latter. Our study demonstrates the significance of season-specific management, suggests the importance of specific types of vegetation during biologically crucial periods, and emphasizes the necessity to minimize disturbances throughout the year.
人类主导的景观提供了异质性的野生动物栖息地。保护栖息在这类景观中的栖息地 specialists，如小熊猫，具有挑战性。因此，跨时空尺度的资源利用信息能够实现更明智的决策，从而取得更好的保护成果。我们旨在研究地理物理、植被和干扰变量对某一此类景观中小熊猫精细尺度栖息地选择的影响。2019年，我们在尼泊尔东部为10只小熊猫佩戴了GPS项圈，并对它们进行了1年的监测。我们的分析基于广义线性混合模型。我们发现，地理物理、植被和干扰变量的综合作用导致了小熊猫资源选择的差异，并且对这些变量的响应程度随季节而变化。人类干扰，尤其是道路和放牧活动，全年都影响栖息地利用，而其他变量仅在特定时期重要。例如，地理物理变量在交配前和育幼季节有影响，而植被变量在交配前以外的所有季节都很重要。小熊猫在交配前季节选择日照充足的陡坡，而在育幼季节它们占据高处并偏好特定方位。此外，在分娩和育幼季节，利用区域有高大的竹子，而在育幼后期它们也偏好多种树种和高灌木覆盖率。我们的研究证明了特定季节管理的重要性，表明了在生物关键时期特定类型植被的重要性，并强调了全年尽量减少干扰的必要性。
