祁连山北麓高原鼢鼠栖息地的选择要素

Habitat selection of Plateau zokor in northern Qilian Mountain

动物栖息地是指能为野生动物提供生活必须条件的空间单位（Morris et al.,2008）。动物只有在最基本的资源条件如食物、水分、隐蔽场所等得到满足,且与气候、竞争者和捕食者相互适应时才能稳定的繁衍和发展（崔庆虎等,2005）。动物栖息地选择是一个分层的行为决策过程,是指导个体对栖息地的非随机利用,进而影响个体生存力和适合度等一系列行为反应（赵青山等,2013）。

Studying the habitat characteristics and habitat selection of the plateau zokorin different grassland types is very important to understand the function and position of the zokor in these grassland ecosystems.We selectedthe plateau zokor inhabiting in the alpine meadow,alpine shrub meadow and alpine grassland located in northern Qilian Mountain to describe habitat characteristics and study its habitat selection by dividing five plots in each grassland according to the zokor ＇s mounds densities,which can be regarded as relative population density of zokors.We investigated soil compaction,soil moisture,soil temperature,soil p H,as well as plant community structure in each plot of three grassland types.One-Way ANOVAs showed that there were significant differences in vegetation and soil among the three grassland types.Soil compaction,soil temperature,and total plant species number in alpine meadow were the highest（P〈0.05）,soil moisture and total vegetation coverage in alpine shrub meadow were the highest（P〈0.05）,soil pH in alpine grassland was the highest（P〈0.05）.Correlation analysis showed that soil compaction was negatively correlated with the relative population density of the zokor（P〈0.05）.Stepwise linear regression analysis showed that the plateau zokor preferred habitat with lower compaction,richer forbs in alpine meadow,lower compaction in alpine shrub meadow,and lower compaction,higher soil moisture,richer sedges in alpine grassland.In the three grassland types,we found that the soil compaction was the key factor of habitat selection of the plateau zokor and food resource was the secondary factor.