Distribution and abundance of hydripotes inermis in spring in Yancheng Coastal Wetland, Jiangsu Province, China

To clarify the distribution and abundance of Hydripotes inermis in Yancheng coastal wetland, 34 transects totally were surveyed and recordation on angle and distance from the point of animals to the transect line were recorded during March to May, 2007, as well as fresh track counts were recorded. The distance software and Formozov - Mayeshev - Perelshin (FMP) formula were used to estimate the population abundance. There were two main distributions of Hydripotes inermis in Yancheng coastal wetland, one of which is located in Shey-ang County, centered in the core area of the Yancheng National Nature Reserve and expanded to Sheyang Reed Company and surrounding area. And the other is in Dafeng County, from the first to the third core areas of the Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve and surrounding wild lands. It was found that there were totally about 372 individuals of Hydripotes inermis. They were mostly distributed in core area of Yancheng National Nature Reserve , where there were 327 Individuals with a density of 1.9 ind. /km². The abundance of Hydripotes inermis declined sharply compared with the census data in 1990s, some suggestions were given to protect Hydripotes inermis of Yancheng costal wetland.