Habitat selection and movement range of re-introduced Chinese water deer after release in Shanghai Binjiang Forest Park, China

Chinese water deer were re-introduced to Bingjiang Forest Park, Shanghai. We used radio-telemetry to track the released deer, and obtained valid movement fixes in 286 patches and movement range in the park. Vanderloeg coefficients and Scavia indices were used to evaluate species habitat selection. The results show that by using MCP method, the movement area in the park ranged from 24.94 hm² to 83.24 hm², with an average of 58.74 hm². While using FKE method, it ranged from 11.23 to 41.52 hm², with an average of 26.93 hm². We found that the deer showed a strong preference for patches with an area of 1-2 hm² and a long distance to water. As to vegetation factors, the deer tend to choose areas with more wild herbs, proper density of arbors or shrubs, arbors at the height among 10-15 m and herbs at the height over 30 cm. Meanwhile, they showed negative selection for habitat without vegetation or with lower herb cover (<5 cm) or short arbors (<5 m). Therefore, we suggest creating habitats with appropriate vegetation cover and density, good hiding property, and moderate patch area, and supplementally plant high herbaceous species for future deer reintroduction in country park and other urban woodland.