Anthropogenic effect on forest landscape pattern and Cervidae habitats in northeastern China

Species abundance and habitat distribution are two important aspects of species conservation studies and both are affected by similar environmental factors. Forest resource inventory data in 2010 were used to evaluate the patterns of habitat for target species of Cervidae in six typical forestry bureaus of the Yichun forest area in the Lesser Xing’an Mountains, northeastern China. A habitat suitability index(HSI) model was used based on elevation, slope, aspect, vegetation and age of tree. These five environmental factors were selected by boosted regression tree(BRT) analysis from 14 environmental variables collected during field surveys. Changes in habitat caused by anthropogenic activities mainly involving settlement and road factors were also considered. The results identified 1780.49 km2 of most-suitable and 1770.70 km2 of unsuitable habitat areas under natural conditions, covering 16.38% and 16.29% of the entire study area, respectively. The area of most-suitable habitat had been reduced by 4.86% when human interference was taken into account, whereas the unsuitable habitat area had increased by 11.3%, indicating that anthropogenic disturbance turned some potential habitats into unsuitable ones. Landscape metrics indicated that average patch area declined while patch density and edge density increased. This suggests that as habitat becomes fragmented and its quality becomes degraded by human activities, cervid populations will be threatened with extirpation. The study helped identify the spatial extent of habitat influenced by anthropogenic interference for the local cervid population. As cervid species clearly avoid human activities, more attention should be paid on considering the way and intensity of human activities for habitat management as fully as possible.

Diet breadth and mortality patterns from Laoya Cave： A primary profile of MIS 3/2 hunting strategies in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, southwest China

Laoya Cave is a long-term occupation site of Late Paleolithic humans in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, southwest China, where abundant lithic, bone materials were recovered. Dating by the AMS technique showed a significant depositional process during marine isotope stage(MIS) 3/2. In this study, the species spectrum was presented from the perspective of zooarchaeology and the mortality profile of large Cervidae was examined to help increase our understanding of the subsistence strategy of local people dealing with climate and environmental changes. The main part of the diet was focused on large Cervidae, and the dominance of Ungulates indicates effective management of the cave and local fauna. On the other hand, the mortality profiles of large Cervidae varied correspondingly with climate change. The evidence indicates a specialized hunting strategy that was also flexible, depending on the prevailing climate and environment.