Abstract: Human activities have significant effects on the habitat suitability and utilization of wildlife. The establishment of nature reserves can, to a certain extent, reduce or even avoid excessive human interference with wildlife. The Xinglongshan National Nature Reserve in Gansu Province is located on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Alpine musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) protected in this reserve, is critically endangered and has been listed as a national key protected species. To investigate the impacts of anthropogenic activities on the habitat of musk deer within and around the Xinglongshan Nature Reserve, we analyzed the changes in musk deer habitat caused by human activities with high-resolution satellite data in 2017 and 2022 and the methods such as the standard deviation ellipse calculation, landscape pattern indices and spatial overlay. The results showed that: (1) Human activities within and around the reserve exhibited a clear directionality, which was closely aligned with the concentrated distribution of roads and residential areas in the northwest to southeast direction, with angles ranging from 36° to 54° south by east. (2) The number of patches of farmland and construction land increased, coupled with a decrease in the average patch size, increasing habitat fragmentation. (3) The suitable habitat areas within the reserve shrank obviously. The spatial distribution of suitable habitat (294.27 km²) of musk deer in the reserve and its surrounding area was different from that of the existing protected area. Some suitable habitat (103.05 km²) was outside the reserve, which should be included into the reserve.

Key words: alpine musk deer, habitat suitability, anthropogenic activity, potentially suitable habitat, Xinglongshan National Nature Reserve