Mammals of Tengchong Section of Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, China
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Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication Mammals of Tengchong Section of Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, China Fei Li, Xiang-Yuan Huang, Xing-Chao Zhang, Xing-Xi Zhao, Jian-Huan Yang & Bosco Pui Lok Chan 12 September 2019 | Vol. 11 | No. 11 | Pages: 14402–14414 DOI: 10.11609/jot.4439.11.11.14402-14414 Monograph For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies, and Guidelines visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints, contact <[email protected]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. 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Partner Member Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 12 September 2019 | 11(11): 14402–14414 Mammals of Tengchong Section of Gaoligongshan National Communication Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, China ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) Fei Li 1 , Xiang-Yuan Huang 2 , Xing-Chao Zhang 3 , Xing-Xi Zhao 4 , Jian-Huan Yang 5 & ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Bosco Pui Lok Chan 6 PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS 1,5,6 Kadoorie Conservaton China, Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden, Hong Kong SAR, Lam Kam Road, Tai Po, China. 2–4 Yunnan Gaoligongshan Natonal Nature Reserve (Tengchong Bureau), 157 Laifeng Avenue, Tengchong, Yunnan Province 679100, China. 1 [email protected], 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected], 4 [email protected], 5 [email protected], 6 [email protected] (corresponding author) Abstract: We conducted feld surveys on the mammalian diversity in the Tengchong Secton of Gaoligongshan Natonal Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, China, using camera trap and transect method between April 2014 and May 2018. A total of 46 identfable mammal species were recorded, including one new record for China and nine new species for the Tengchong County. Of the 46 species, nine are globally threatened (three Endangered and six Vulnerable) and six are Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Species richness of most mammal groups in Tengchong remains high compared to similar sites in neighbouring countries; however, encounter rates for species vulnerable to high huntng pressures were quite low and large carnivores, except the Asiatc Black Bear, were either extrpated or at critcally low numbers. Future surveys should cover a wider elevaton range and a variety of microhabitats to increase the probability of detectng the species not yet recorded. To enhance the conservaton value of the reserve for the diverse mammalian community, poaching and livestock grazing should be further controlled; in additon, protecton and restoraton of low-alttude forests should be encouraged. Monitoring and research on selected fagship species should also be conducted. Keywords: Camera trap, new records, spotlightng, threatened species, transect survey. DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4439.11.11.14402-14414 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:65323B76-A6B0-4D24-9532-E5AE5251D412 Editor: David P. Mallon, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Date of publicaton: 12 September 2019 (online & print) Manuscript details: #4439 | Received 27 July 2018 | Final received 07 March 2019 | Finally accepted 03 June 2019 Citaton: Li, F., X.Y. Huang, X.C. Zhang, X.X. Zhao, J.H. Yang & B.P.L. Chan (2019). Mammals of Tengchong Secton of Gaoligongshan Natonal Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, China. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(11): 14402–14414. htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4439.11.11.14402-14414 Copyright: © Li et al. 2019. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Funding: This study is funded by Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. Author details: Fei Li: Senior Conservaton Ofcer of Kadoorie Conservaton China Department at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden. Xiang-Yuan Huang: Head of Research Department of Gaoligongshan Natonal Nature Reserve (Tengchong Bureau). Xing-Chao Zhang: Technical Ofcer of Gaoligongshan Natonal Nature Reserve (Tengchong Bureau). Xing-Xi Zhao: Technical Ofcer of Gaoligongshan Natonal Nature Reserve (Tengchong Bureau). Jian-Huan Yang: Senior Conservaton Ofcer of Kadoorie Conservaton China Department at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden. Bosco Pui Lok Chan: Head of Kadoorie Conservaton China Department at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden. Author contributon: Fei Li and Bosco Chan performed the analysis and wrote the paper. All authors collected and contributed data. Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the management of Gaoligongshan Natonal Nature Reserve, partcularly the Baoshan Administratve Bureau, for supportng our study. We thank Will Duckworth and Anwaruddin Choudhury for confrming the identfcaton of the Red Serow and Li Quan and Li Song of Kunming Insttute of Zoology for discussions on the taxonomy and distributon of squirrel species. We also thank the staf and wardens of Tengchong Secton of Gaoligongshan Natonal Nature Reserve, as well as colleagues from KFBG, for assistance in feldwork, especially in setng camera traps. 14402 Mammals of Tengchong Secton of Gaoligongshan Natonal NR Li et al. INTRODUCTION A group of knowledgeable reserve wardens assisted in identfying suitable locatons for deploying camera Gaoligongshan Mountains (hereafer GLGS) traps, and about 60% of our camera trap statons were is well-known for its rich biodiversity and unique selected based on their advice. Most of the cameras geomorphological features (Chan et al. 2019). It were mounted on trees at a height of c. 30–40 cm from atracted visitng naturalists as early as the 19th Century; the ground at a distance of 2–4 m to the target area. the most notable among them were John Anderson, Time and date were automatcally recorded on each George Forrest, Frank Kingdon-Ward, and Roy Chapman exposure. Commercial lures (Hawbaker’s Weasel and Andrews, who made a series of signifcant mammal Marten Lure) were used at fve camera trap statons as a collectons from GLGS. Anderson collected the type trial to test the efectveness for future camera trapping series of Yunnan Giant Flying Squirrel Petaurista study. yunnanensis from the surroundings of Tengchong Town in 1868 (Anderson 1878) and the type specimen of Non-random transects Yunnan Hare Lepus comus from Tengchong in 1917 (Allen Both diurnal and spotlightng transects were 1938). The collecton of insectvores and rodents from conducted in additon to the camera trapping. Forest GLGS by Forrest and Kingdon-Ward greatly improved trails, watercourses, and quiet forest roads were walked our understanding of these litle-studied groups in the on to complement the inefciency of camera trapping for eastern Himalaya (Thomas 1912, 1914, 1922; Hinton strictly arboreal species and to maximize encounter rate 1923). From the mid-20th Century, research on the area’s of mammal species. Fifeen transects were surveyed, mammals was carried out by Chinese zoologists, further amountng to a total of 180.76km and 172 man-days, enhancing understanding of the mammalian fauna of covering elevatons between 1,300m and 3,430m, the region, especially on the species compositon of during both the cold-dry and wet-warm seasons. During communites and their geographic distributon across these walks, all observed animals were recorded. Tracks, the vast mountain range (Pen et al. 1962; Peng & Wang feeding signs, and droppings which could be confdently 1981). A baseline survey of Gaoligongshan Natonal identfed were also recorded (see Table 2 for feld Nature Reserve listed 89 mammal species for Tengchong signs recorded for each species). Spotlightng surveys County, including fve species of Chiroptera and 16 were conducted in 11 of these transects, amountng species of Muridae (Xue et al. 1995). to 37.27km; we walked along quiet roads, trails, and In April 2014, we launched a systematc mammal streams at a slow pace (under 1km/h) with two or three survey in the Tengchong Secton of Gaoligongshan observers (Table 1). Locatons of our camera trap and Natonal Nature Reserve (hereafer TC-GLGS). We transect surveys can be found in Fig. 1. provide a report on the current mammal diversity and conservaton status in TC-GLGS based on camera trap Data analysis and transect surveys conducted between April 2014 and We included all mammals detected except May 2018. Chiroptera, Muridae, and Cricetdae, due to the difcultes in identfying