The daily activities of animals are influenced by various factors, including their physiological adaptations and preferred habitat distributions, as well as prey availability and human disturbances. For felids, the main drivers of activity patterns appear to be prey availability and anthropogenic disturbances, as suggested by previous studies. In this study, we explore a set of variables that influence the activity patterns of Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) in Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces in north‐east China near south‐western Primorsky Krai, Russia. This area is currently the only occupied tiger habitat in China. Prey availability (e.g. wild boar, sika deer and roe deer), human disturbances (e.g. human activity, distance to human settlements and intense forest livestock grazing), and habitat structure were analysed. Our results revealed crepuscular and nocturnal activity of Amur tigers. Although the temporal overlaps between the tigers and their prey species were high, the spatial overlap indices were low. Although the presence of tigers decreased near human settlements, tigers showed a preference for walking along roads. Tigers also avoided high‐elevation coniferous and mixed hardwood forests. Overall, our results indicated that (1) tigers spatially and temporally avoided human disturbances and tigers respond behaviourally to human disturbances and (2) human disturbances may determine the activity of Amur tigers in north‐east China. In the future, to address conflicts between tigers and local humans and to improve tiger conservation, conservation planning should incorporate the spatio‐temporal activity patterns of tigers and humans.
The areas in China with climates suitable for the potential distribution of the pest species red turpentine beetle (RTB) Dendroctonus valens LeConte (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) were predicted by CLIMEX based on historical climate data and future climate data with warming estimated. The model used a historical climate data set (1971-2000) and a simulated climate data set (2010-2039) provided by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change (TYN SC 2.0). Based on the historical climate data, a wide area was available in China with a suitable climate for the beetle in which every province might contain suitable habitats for this pest, particularly all of the southern provinces. The northern limit of the distribution of the beetle was predicted to reach Yakeshi and Elunchun in Inner Mongolia, and the western boundary would reach to Keerkezi in Xinjiang Province. Based on a global-warming scenario, the area with a potential climate suited to RTB in the next 30 years (2010-2039) may extend further to the northeast. The northern limit of the distribution could reach most parts of south Heilongjiang Province, whereas the western limit would remain unchanged. Combined with the tendency for RTB to spread, the variation in suitable habitats within the scenario of extreme climate warming and the multiple geographical elements of China led us to assume that, within the next 30 years, RTB would spread towards the northeast, northwest, and central regions of China and could be a potentially serious problem for the forests of China.
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