Spatiotemporal coexistence of North Chinese Leopard ( Panthera pardus japonesis ) and prey in Tie Qiao Shan provincial nature reserve

Niche differentiation enables species with a spatial-temporal overlap to coexist,and a niche research has wide application and far-reaching influence in wildlife management,interspecific relationship and community structure. Grazing,which is one of the most important human disturbances,will change the characteristics of wildlife resource utilization through resource competition( such as food,time,and space) and even affect the survival of sympatric species. North Chinese leopard is a unique and rare wildlife species in China. Its wild prey population is decreasing due to the increasing resources competition between wild prey and livestock. Therefore,we should understand the characteristics of spatialtemporal utilization for domestic and wild animals to assess the survival of wildlife. In this study,62 infrared automatic cameras were set up to obtain the activity data of four kinds of mammals in Tie Qiao Shan provincial nature reserve form October 2018 to May 2019. Two-species single season model and kernel density estimation were used to analyze the spatial interaction and diurnal rhythm between the leopard and prey in a captive breeding period and cage-free period,and the overlap of activity rhythm between the two species was calculated using the coefficient of overlap. The results showed that the spatial avoidance of leopard-roe deer and leopard-wild boar decreased during grazing,which may be the compensation mechanism for the increase in temporal overlap. North Chinese leopard-cattle had the strongest spatial avoidance. The spatial-temporal overlap of leopard-cattle was not significant. Moreover,it was large for cattle-roe deer,while that of cattlewild boar was small. This study showed that the grazing affected the spatial-temporal coexistence relationship between the North Chinese leopard and prey,and may have led to the potential risk of intensified human-leopard conflict. The results of the daily activity rhythm showed that the roe deer were diurnal,while wild boars were crepuscular. Owing to the limited number of times the North Chinese leopard has been detected,its daily activity rhythm still needs further study.