Spatial Distribution and Foraging Habits of Mammals in the Rokkou Mountains on the Basis of Trace Detection and Fecal Analyses in Fruiting Seasons in September and October.

Abstract

The Rokkou Mountains were barren due to excessive human-use until the middle Meiji era and were reforested since 1902 with the main purpose of flood control. The present mountains are largely covered by Quercus serrata dominant forests and Pinus densiflora dominant forests. And, as additiona lcommentary, continuous artifici aplrovisioning has been carried for wild boars in several sites in southern slope of the mountains since 1948. For the present studies, we selected 14 footpaths (3.7km in average and 52.2km in total )in an area extending from Mt. Maya to the south-western part of Takarazuka city: about 14km E-W and 10 km N-S, and walked along the paths detecting mammal traces in October 1998 for southern slope and in September 1999 for northern slope, respectively. When we encountered traces, we mapped the location and collected the feces for later laboratory analysis. We found the traces of four mammal species' presence: Japanese squirrels, weasel species, martens and wild boars, in the southern slope neighboring high-populated urban area, and the traces of seven mammal species: the four species mentioned above plus Kobe mole, Japanese hare, and Japanese fox additionally in the northern slope. The trace of raccoon dog had never been encountered along the paths. Also, the western part of the area neighboring farmland had higher biodiversity in mammal species than the eastern part of the mountains. Frugivory of weasel species and marten, in which fecal samples were larger than those of the others in sample size, was biased to Eurya japonica, Actinidia sp., and Akebia sp. The forest seem to succeed in lower biodiversity. This forests succession is partly due to artificia ldisturbance through the provisioning for wild boars because of their overpopulation.