1.Feline Research Center of National Forestry and Grassland Administration,College of Wildlife and Protected Area,Northeast Forestry University,Harbin 150040,China
2.Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park Hunchun Conservation Center,Hunchun 133300,China
Faecal samples are important for studies on the population ecology, genetic characteristics, disease and health of wildlife. As Amur tiger(Panthera tigris altaica) is endangered, faecal samples collection is often challenging, thus one faecal sample is often divided into different parts for different analyses in order to satisfy different research purposes. However, it has not been explored that whether partial sampling and the differences of sampling parts would affect research results. This study analyzed the dietary composition based on faecal samples of the wild Amur tiger using DNA metabarcoding technology and compared the differences among the different faecal sampling parts. The results showed that Amur tiger preyed on wild boar (Sus scrofa), sika deer (Cervus nippon), and Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) as its main food resources(relative read abundance: 22.130 0% - 42.660 0%), but also occasionally preyed on other animals, like mid-sized carnivores, rodents and birds(0.000 3% - 0.480 0%). Among the different faecal sampling designs, the outcomes of diet composition showed no significant difference in relative biomass contribution (P > 0.05). However, the combined sampling designs detected the highest number of species (6.50 ± 1.29), which was significantly higher than the other sampling designs (P < 0.05). This study demonstrates the necessity to consider the potential impact of partial sampling when conducting faecal samples-based analyses of nutrition, genetics, and disease in Amur tiger, especially when complete faecal samples are unavailable or when the focus is on the identification of rare food species, and that a combination of multiple parts is the optimal solution for obtaining reliable results.
本研究显示东北虎春季的大宗食物为梅花鹿、野猪和狍等有蹄类动物,这与东北虎豹国家公园体制试点建设以前同区域内东北虎食性研究结果[12,31]一致。不同的是,3种有蹄类动物作为东北虎的大宗食物,其总体生物贡献量比例较于兰[31]的研究结果稍高,相较Yang et al.[12]的研究结果则有所降低。单物种分析发现,相较于兰[31]和Yang et al.[12]的研究,梅花鹿的相对生物贡献量有明显增加,而野猪的相对生物贡献量低于其冬季数据。这可能是研究区域内有蹄类动物种群变化,导致猎物资源可获得性发生变化引起的。一方面,东北虎豹国家公园体制试点建设以及国家公园的正式成立有力地促进了大部分野生动物种群数量的快速恢复,这主要包括该地区分布的有蹄类动物[17];另一方面,非洲猪瘟的传播可能对区域内野猪种群造成了一定的打击。尽管国内没有非洲猪瘟在野生野猪种群中传播的报道,但非洲猪瘟对野猪种群的危害,以及在国内家猪和俄罗斯远东地区野猪种群中的传播都是切实存在的[32]。同时,考虑到前期研究显示:尽管研究区域狍的种群数量更高,但东北虎依然更偏爱梅花鹿、野猪等大型有蹄类动物。野猪种群减少和梅花鹿种群增加可能是导致本研究中这两个物种在东北虎食性中的相对生物贡献量相较其他研究有明显变化的主要原因。
本研究相较于其他研究的另外一个主要差异在于,其他两项开展于2011—2016年和2014—2016年的研究均探测到东北虎对家畜的捕食[12,31],特别是Gu et al.[33]的研究,家畜在东北虎食物组成中占有相当的比例,而本研究中并未探测到东北虎捕食家畜。东北虎豹国家公园建设之前,牲畜放牧是研究区域内常见的人为干扰类型之一,普遍存在于研究区域内,也是造成人虎冲突的主要因素[34-36]。自国家公园体制试点建设以来,对当地黄牛养殖采取了限额管理措施,并采取了执法和专项整治行动,禁止家畜进入国有林区。本研究未探测到东北虎捕食家畜,体现了这一政策在缓解人虎冲突方面的作用。
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