赤水桫椤自然保护区小灵猫及其潜在啮齿类猎物活动节律的季节适应格局OA北大核心CSTPCD

The daily activity rhythm of animals is an adaptive response with endogenous characteristics to environmental constraints(e.g.photoperiod,climate),food availability,and predation risk.Elucidating the driving factors of daily ac-tivity rhythms is crucial in understanding wildlife fitness and guiding conservation.Currently,more and more research-ers are paying attention to the use of infrared camera technology to explore the daily activity rhythms of wild animals.This study was based on the monitoring data from 60 infrared-triggered cameras in three sample plots(two in the reserve and one outside the reserve)using continuous 1 km × 1 km grids throughout the year in Guizhou Chishui Alsophila Re-serve and its surrounding areas from December 2016 to July 2022.We selected the data of small Indian civets(Viverricu-la indica)and their potential rodent prey monitored in the corresponding sites of civets.We compared the daily activity rhythm characteristics of small Indian civets and their potential rodent prey by employing a kernel density estimation and using overlap coefficient to quantify the temporal overlap between the inside and outside of the reserve across wet and dry seasons.Our results showed that small Indian civets had two distinct peaks of activity:one in the early morning from 03:00-06:00 and the other in the evening from 19:00-24:00.When comparing the two seasons,we found small Indian civets had an earlier morning activity peak in the wet season(03:00-05:00)than that in the dry season(04:00-06:00),with higher and more concentrated morning activity intensity in the wet season;but with an extended activity after dusk in the wet season.The overlap analysis between the activity of small Indian civets and their potential rodent prey revealed a higher overlap coefficient(over 90％)with nocturnal rodents.There were higher overlap coeffi-cients in the dry season(Δ=0.93)than in the rainy season(Δ=0.90),but not with Pallas squirrels(Callosciurus ery-thraeus)(wet season,Δ=0.18;dry season,Δ=0.16).The peak of the early morning activity of the small Indian civet ended about one hour later in the reserve sites than outside the reserve.Additionally,some daytime activity mainly oc-curred in the areas inside the reserve.Therefore,our results suggest that the daily activity rhythm of the small Indian civ-et is both conservative and seasonally plastic.These were affected by the seasonal distribution of prey and environmen-tal changes but also affected by human activity.Our study contributes to a better understanding of small Indian civets'life history characteristics and their effective conservation.