Population dynamics of the Père David's deer Elaphurus davidianus in Shishou Milu National Nature Reserve, Hubei Province, China

摘要

In order to establish a wild population, Hubei Shishou Milu Natinal Nature Reserve introduced 30 (8♂, 22♀) and 34 (10♂, 24♀) Milu ( Père David’s deer ) from the Beijing Milu Park to establish a breeding herd in 1993 and 1994, respectively. Since June 2000, we have monitored the population trends of reintroduced Père David’s deer in Shishou Milu National Nature Reserve. Until the end of the calving season of 2006, there were 522 Père David’s deer in the reserve. The growth of Milu population fits the equation: Nt=84e0.226 t. The sex ratio in the Milu population was 1: 1.22（♂: ♀）before the calving season of 2006. Owing to heavy floods in the Yangtze River during the summer of 1998, some Milu escaped from the fenced area in the reserve to the south of the Yangtze River. According to the fitted population growth model, the population growth rate of Milu inside the reserve was 0.226 which was lower than that (0.267) of the Milu that live outside the reserve. The mean annual population growth rate of the Milu that live outside the reserve was also higher than the population inside the fenced reserve. Compared with those of the Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve, the mean annual birth rate (26.8%, P = 0.010) and the mean annual population growth rate (21.7%, p = 0.038) of the Milu population in Shishou Milu National Nature Reserve were significantly higher than that of the Dafeng population. However, there was no significant difference between the mean annual mortality rates between the Shishou and Dafeng populations. Due to habitat deterioration and human interference in the Shishou nature reserve, some conservative measures should be taken urgently to improve the living conditions of Milu because the growth of the population has started to show a density-dependent pattern [Acta Zoologica Sinica 53 (6): 947–952, 2007].