A Decade of Camera-Trap Monitoring Reveals Community Stability and Temporal Niche Differentiation in a Montane Forest Ecosystem

Long-term ecological monitoring is essential for understanding biodiversity dynamics and evaluating conservation effectiveness in protected areas. The Baishuihe National Nature Reserve, located in the southern Minshan Mountains, represents an important montane forest ecosystem within a global biodiversity hotspot. Using camera-trapping data collected from 2011 to 2020, we investigated long-term community dynamics and temporal activity patterns of mammals and ground-dwelling pheasants in the reserve. A total of 23 species, including 17 mammal and 6 pheasant species, were recorded during the 10-year survey. Carnivora and Artiodactyla were the most species-rich orders, while several ungulates and pheasants dominated detections throughout the monitoring period. Species richness increased with survey duration, while the rate of newly recorded species declined after 2016, and the observed assemblage became more consistent across years. Interannual community variation reflected both species turnover and nestedness-related processes, although dominant and common species remained consistently detected across years. Camera-trap data further revealed pronounced temporal niche differentiation among sympatric species. Carnivores, such as leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) and masked palm civet (Paguma larvata), were primarily nocturnal, whereas golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana), Temminck’s tragopan (Tragopan temminckii), and blood pheasant (Ithaginis cruentus) showed predominantly diurnal activity patterns. Several species exhibited broad temporal niches or seasonal shifts in activity rhythms, suggesting flexible behavioral adaptation to environmental conditions. Overall, the Baishuihe Reserve supported a taxonomically and functionally diverse camera-trap-detectable vertebrate assemblage, within which dominant and common species showed relatively persistent occurrence across years. This study highlights the importance of long-term camera-trap monitoring for understanding community stability, temporal niche organization, and biodiversity conservation in mountain ecosystems.