Preliminary analysis on the summer habitat selection of Mongolia subspecies of goitred gazelle in Wulate, Inner Mongolia of northern China

ObjectiveDue to the lack of research on goitred gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa hillieriana) at home and abroad, it has some adverse effects on its protection. Therefore, this paper studies the habitat selection of Mongolia subspecies of goitred gazelle in summer, and will provide a basis for exploring habitat selection and habitat restoration of the species.

MethodWe investigated the habitat selection of Mongolia subspecies of goitred gazelle in the Ass-Saxoul National Nature Reserve of Wulate, Inner Mongolia of northern China from July to August 2016, using methods of transects and random samples. Totally 71 quadrats with gazelle and its tracks were obtained and 15 habitat selection factors were measured. The Vanderploeg and Scavia selection index and principal component analysis were used to determine the main habitat factors.

ResultThe results showed that goitred gazelle chose high plain and torso mountain, semi-shady slope, shrub with nitraria sibirica (Nitraria tangutorum); shrub numbers of no more than 10 or 20–30; the vegetation coverage of less than 20% or 60%–80%; and with the distance from the road and resident sites 10–15 km. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the total cumulative contribution rate for 5 components was 76.504%, the contribution rate of the first principal component was 22.058%, in which the highest was terrain factors (slope orientation, slope position and slope degree); high contribution rate factors in other principal components were disturbance, water distance and vegetation factors.

ConclusionTherefore, we suppose that gazelles ’ preference and avoidance for habitat selection is due to the unique seasonal characteristics of climate, topograghy, food and disturbance in summer and reflects its preference and trade-off for the actual habitat and resource distribution in the protected area.