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Using GIS for carnivores distribution mapping in fragmented landscape
Results and Discussions
A total of 208,069.96 camera working hours (New Territories= 130,405.58 hours; Hong Kong Island= 36,195.26 hours; Lantau Island= 41,469.12 hours) and 2,137 pictures was carried out by the 100 auto-trigger cameras and a total of 714 pictures of carnivores were obtained. The number of carnivore picture taken in each study area was positively correlated with the number of camera working hours for the same area (r2= 0.80), which indicated the normal function of the auto-trigger cameras throughout the study period. The Occurrence Index (OI) for all carnivores for each study area, however, was not correlated with its camera working hours (r2= 0.01). This result showed that the abundance information (i.e., the OI-value) derived from data collected by the auto-trigger camera was independent from the survey effort, therefore a reliable index for relative abundance.
Among the 20 mammalian species recorded in this study, 9 were carnivores including Chinese ferret badger (Melogale moschata), yellow-bellied weasel (Mustela kathiah), masked palm civet (Paguma larvata), small Indian civet (Viverricula indica), small Asian mongoose (Herpestes javanicus), crab-eating mongoose (Herpestes urva), Chinese leopard cat (Felis bengalensis), feral cat (Felis catus), and feral dog (Canis familiaris). Chinese ferret badger (OI= 0.81), small Indian civet (OI= 0.99), and feral dog (OI= 0.95) were most abundant species (Table 1). Yellow-bellied weasel, small Asian mongoose and crab-eating mongoose were the rare species (Table 1).
Table 1 Survey data, species richness, and OI value of Carnivores in different Country Parks and the Tai Po Kau Special Areas
| | New Territories | Hong Kong | Lantau Island | No. of picture | OI |
| Plover Cove | Pat Sin Leng | Lam Tsuen | Tai Po Kou | Tai Mo Shan | Tai Lam | Shing Mun | Kam Shan | Lion Rock | Ma On Shan | Sai Kung | Pok Fu Lam | Aberd
een | Tai Tam | Shek O | Lantau North | Lantau South |
| Ferret Badger | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 6 | 44 | 28 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 13 | 19 | 4 | 168 | 0.81 |
| Yellow-bellied Weasel | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 0.01 |
| Masked Palm Civet | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 5 | 13 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 0.32 |
| Small Indian Civet | 5 | 49 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 34 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 31 | 18 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 205 | 0.99 |
| Small Asian Mongoose | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.01 |
| Crab-eating Mongoose | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0.03 |
| Leopard Cat | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 22 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 0.28 |
| Feral Cat | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 26 | 0.12 |
| Feral Dog | 5 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 24 | 12 | 13 | 42 | 26 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 198 | 0.95 |
| Richness | 3 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | | |
| No of picture | 11 | 86 | 12 | 13 | 27 | 45 | 59 | 19 | 21 | 159 | 88 | 47 | 35 | 12 | 46 | 27 | 7 | 714 | |
| OI | 2.56 | 4.66 | 4.31 | 2.55 | 3.71 | 1.81 | 3.24 | 4.05 | 5.56 | 6.02 | 6.04 | 5.84 | 2.84 | 1.55 | 5.70 | 2.02 | 0.25 | | |
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