The Activity Patterns of Sympatric Red-Bellied Squirrels (Callosciurus erythraeus) and Northern Tree Shrews (Tupaia belangeri) using Camera-Traps in Karst Habitat, Guangxi, China
The Activity Patterns of Sympatric Red-Bellied Squirrels (Callosciurus erythraeus) and Northern Tree Shrews (Tupaia belangeri) using Camera-Traps in Karst Habitat, Guangxi, China
Guo-Hai Wang1, Ji-Feng Long2, Li-Juan Wei3, Zhi Qin2, Wei Yao4, Chuang-Bin-Tang1* and Qi-Hai Zhou4*
ABSTRACT
Understanding wildlife activity and the temporal niches of animals is fundamental in revealing the mechanism of niche differentiation among sympatric species and the coexistence of such species communities. However, there is no clarity on whether the activity patterns of the sympatric species red-bellied squirrels (Callosciurus erythraeus) and Northern tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri) overlap; knowledge on the coexistence mechanism of these animals in the karst habitat is also minimal. Herein, we used camera traps to collect photos and research the activity patterns by using kernel density estimation and coefficient of overlap to explore the animals’ time niche differentiation. Both species were found to be typical diurnal animals with two peaks in daily activity (red-bellied squirrels: 07:00-08:00 and 17:00-18:00; Northern tree shrews: 06:00-07:00 and 17:00-18:00). The overlap coefficients of red-bellied squirrels and Northern tree shrews were significantly different in dry season and rainy season. The overlap coefficients between red-bellied squirrels and Northern tree shrews was high (Δ=0.86), with significant differences in both dry season and rainy season. The activity duration of red-bellied squirrels was significantly lower than that of Northern tree shrews (5.49±0.57 vs. 6.80±0.63 s), but the activity temperature was just the opposite (22.19±0.60 vs. 20.82±0.40 ℃). Therefore, we conclude that the sympatric red-bellied squirrels and Northern tree shrews coexist successfully by adjusting their respective activity duration and temperature to reduce interspecific competition.
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