Abstract: By the methods of instantaneous and scan sampling and of all-occurrence recording, the diurnal activity rhythm and time budget of Lacerta vivipara in Xiaoxing’an Mountains of Heilongjiang Province were studied from May to July, 2007. The results showed that basking and resting were the main activities of L. vivipara, and the remaining time was devoted to feeding, social activities, and others. The duration for feeding and other activities was shorter, while that for basking was longer in cloudy days than in fine days. Though the daily activity rhythms of male, female, and juvenile L. vivipara under different weather conditions all showed two peaks, there still existed differences in the beginning and standing time of their activities, the appearing and standing time of the activities peaks, and the values of the peaks. In fine days, the beginning time of the activities was earlier, and the duration and interval time were longer; while in cloudy days, the duration for activities was shorter, and the appearance frequency of activities peaks was higher. The males devoted more time to activities and appeared more at activities peaks than the females, while the juveniles began activities later and appeared lesser than the adults. Air temperature, ground temperature, and illumination affected the daily activity rhythm of L. vivipara, and illumination was the most important affecting factor. The lizard began to come out when the relative illumination reached to 40%. Temperature mainly affected the numbers of activities, and the activities peaks occurred when the ground temperature was 23 ℃-32 ℃ and air temperature was 21 ℃-29 ℃.

Key words: Platycladus orientalis, Robinia pseudoacacia, Growth stage, Transpiration pattern, Soil moisture, Time-soil moisture function