DOI: 10.5061/dryad.7m0cfxq2w
title: Spatial distribution pattern of mustelids in the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau

description: Evolutionary theory predicts that the species of an evolutionarily
 successful taxon would not overlap in spatial distribution. To test the
 prediction, we document our research on the spatial associations of
 mustelids, an evolutionarily successful group of Order Carnivore, using
 infrared camera trap data on species distribution collected from the
 national nature reserves of Liancheng, Wolong, Tangjiahe, and Heizhugou in
 China in 2017-2021. Data showed seven mustelid species occurring in the
 study area, including Arctonyx collaris, Mele
 leucurus, Martes foina, Martes flavigula, Mustela
 altaica, Mustela nivalis, and Mustela sibirica. Following Ricklefs’
 definition of biological community, we identified five networks of species
 associations. The mustelids occurred in the networks. Species from the
 same genus, such as M. foina and M. flavigula, stayed in
 different networks to avoid competition due to similar feeding habits or
 habitat preferences. Species with different feeding habits or habitat
 preferences either occurred in different networks, such as M.
 altaica and M. flavigula, or coexist in the same networks but
 avoided direct spatial associations, such as M. foina and A.
 collaris. Asymmetrical associations were found between different
 genera, such as M. foina and M. altaica; or between
 different subfamilies, such as M. flavigula and
 A. collaris. These associations may be attributed to
 interspecific killing or seed dispersal. However, these associations
 accounted for only a small proportion and would not impact the species
 diversity of Mustelidae. It is thus concluded that the prediction is
 supported by our research findings and that spatial avoidance may be the
 biogeographic strategy of maintaining the species diversity of the family.
 We also found that the well protection of the mustelids may benefit to the
 overall biodiversity conservation in Heizhugou, an NNR that has
 experienced severe deforestation.
description: ArcGIS was used to generate a system of 1 km×1 km grids to cover
 the map of the four NNRs. NNRs are mountainous environments with many
 areas that are inaccessible to humans. Thus, a total of ≥5% of accessible
 grids were randomly selected, and each grid was installed with an infrared
 camera (models: Yianws L710 and Ltl Acorn 6210), although the large
 altitude differences and inaccessibility deformed the pattern of camera
 distribution, which appears unevenly distributed on 2-D maps. An ovital
 map was used to navigate our field workers to get into the grids to
 install cameras. The distance between neighboring cameras was maintained
 at ≥300 m. Cameras were placed in the major habitat types of the grids and
 fixed on tree trunks or other objects 50-80 cm above the ground, facing
 parallel to the ground. The angle of the lens allowed the cameras to trap
 images of animals on the ground in the front scenery and the animals on
 scrubs and middle canopy in the middle and distant sceneries; therefore,
 we obtained information on terrestrial and semi-arboreal species.
 Batteries and memory cards were replaced once every three months. Infrared
 cameras are triggered by the movement of infrared rays; thus, ectothermic
 animals do not trigger cameras. Therefore, we obtained thermostatic
 animals including birds and mammals. The coordinates and altitudes were
 measured using a compass on the mobile phones. The slopes and aspects were
 measured using the Ovital Map app on the phones. The height of the
 vegetation and the canopy coverage were estimated visually.
 Because of the different habits of the species, all cameras
 worked for 12 months to obtain complete data on the distribution of the
 species. There were 128 sites randomly selected in Liancheng NNR, with
 cameras continuously working from July 2018 to June 2020; 103 sites in
 Tangjiahe NNR, with cameras working from September 2019 to December 2020;
 and 60 sites in Wolong NNR, with cameras working from February 2017 to
 April 2018. The northern part of Heizhugou NNR was inaccessible, so data
 were collected in the central and southern parts with 24 cameras working
 from September 2019 to December 2020. We checked the images and videos and
 identified the species with reference to Smith and Xie and
 Mackinnon <em>et al</em>. Murids were identified based on the
 dental morphological features. Accordingly, our technique did not support
 the identification, and thus the murids were not identified and we put all
 murids into a single form “murids”. Considering that
 solitary animals and social animals have different ranging behaviors,
 resulting in different correlations between population density and
 occurrence frequency at a given site, and that some images with poor
 definition, especially taken at night, were not good enough to identify
 individuals, we only recorded information about the presence or absence of
 a species at a site, ignoring its occurrence frequency. Therefore, the
 data type is dichotomous. We then counted the number of cameras in which
 (a) both species in question were present, (b) only one species was
 present, (c) only the other species were present, and (d) both species
 were absent. According to Siegel and Castellan, we used the data to
 calculate the Phi coefficients rø and the Lambda statistics.
description: # Spatial distribution pattern of mustelids in the eastern edge of the
 Qinghai-Tibet plateau ### Description of the data This dataset includes
 the occurrence of different species at each camera site ("null"
 means this species didn't appear in this site ) and the Species List
 of Terrestrial Animal in four national nature reserves (“√” means this
 species has been recorded in the reserve; “×” means this species
 hasn't been recorded in the reserve):
 Dryad ([https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7m0cfxq2w](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7m0cfxq2w))