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Many ungulates are reported to use natural or artificial licks with seasonal patterns around the world. From December 2016 to August 2017, we used infrared camera to record the use of artificial licks in wild sika deer (Cervus nippon) in Zhejiang Qingliangfeng National Nature Reserve, China. We explored the daily rhythm, seasonal pattern and sex difference in lick utilization. In total, 12,043 videos and 22,901 pictures were collected. Our results showed that: (1) the lick visiting frequency was higher at night than that during daytime; (2) the difference in lick visiting frequency between females and males disappeared after taking into account of sex ratio; (3) the lick duration peaked in April during a year. These findings suggested that there were clear daily rhythm and seasonal pattern of lick use in sika deer. Seasonal change in lick use intensity was consistent with our prediction. These variations in lick use might be driven by both the physiological needs of the mineral elements in different life stages and the seasonal changes in climate and food. The reserve management authority should pay more attention to the supplement of licks in spring and summer to fulfill animal's physiological needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild sika deer ( Cervus nippon ) are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation throughout East China. Using 18-year demographic data, we conducted a viability analysis to predict the fate of a wild sika deer population threatened by loss of suitable habitat in the Taohongling National Nature Reserve, Southeast China. We simulated performance of proposed management interventions — population recruitment and habitat restoration — in preventing the sika deer population from declining. In the scenario where 60% or 30% of suitable habitat was lost, the population viability model predicted 99.6% and 85.5% probability of population decline by 40 years, respectively. The modelling demonstrated that carrying capacity, which was affected by vegetation succession and socioeconomic development, would restrict the growth of the sika deer population. The survival rate of adults is the element most affecting population growth, yet supplementation of adult deer was predicted to be less effective than habitat restoration in reducing risk of population decline in all habitat scenarios. Large-area but less-intensive restoration should be considered at initial stage of the intervention if the funding was sufficient to support. Regarding these findings, we recommend future management interventions to target towards increasing suitable habitat as well as preventing habitat loss and fragmentation in Taohongling National Nature Reserve. The zoning scheme and its management need to be regulated with conservation incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competition has long been considered as a confounding factor of group size effect but the understanding of interference competition is rudimentary for the difficulty in disentangling interference competition from scramble competition adequately. Here, we analysed remote-camera video records of wild sika deer ( Cervus nippon) at salt licks in southern China from March 1, 2006 to November 30, 2008 to investigate how interference competition and predation risk interacted on vigilance behaviour. Scramble competition is negligible at salt licks; therefore, we could focus our interest in interference competition. We used linear mixed model to compare vigilance, licking and aggression behaviours among females with and without fawn as well as males with different group sizes to identify the primary role of vigilance behaviour in sika deer. In total, 168 individuals were recorded and observation time was 2,733.04 min. We found that deer spent much time on vigilance and scanned frequently in spring and winter, and females with fawn spent more time on vigilance than females without fawn, suggesting vigilance for predation risk. Aggression ratio increased first and then decreased, while scan frequency continued to decline and then slightly increased when group size increased from two to seven, implying vigilance for interference competition. Our results suggested vigilance in sika deer was influenced by both predation risk and interference competition, but was mainly driven by predation risk even at sites with intense interference competition. Our results of interference competition shed some light on finding the underlying mechanism of group size effect in wild populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Many ungulate species around the world have been reported to use natural lick, and most have shown seasonal patterns of lick use. However few researches focused on sexual differences in seasonal patterns of salt lick use. From January 2006 to December 2008, we used remote video cameras to record the uses of artificial salt licks by wild sika deer (Cervus nippon) in Taohongling Nature Reserve, China. We compared sex differences of artificial salt lick use by sika deer assessing both lick use frequency and time spent licking. Our results showed that: (1) there were significant differences in monthly lick use frequency and monthly time spent licking between the two sexes. Females tended to use licks frequently during lactation while the uses of licks by males peaked during the rut; (2) both females and males used salt licks frequently during the period of pelage change; (3) no significant differences were recorded between the individuals of two sexes in terms of staying time, time spent licking per visit and lick duration. We suggest that sika deer could adjust their using of salt licks based on their sodium requirements in different physiological stages. Implications of this study for reserve managers are that more sodium should be supplemented during the rut and lactation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]