Abstract: To better understand the current status of wildlife resources in Guangdong Luokeng Crocodile Lizard National Nature Reserve, a total of 50 infrared camera sites were deployed between January 2022 and July 2023, which captured 8316 days of work and obtained 11589 identifiable independent and valid photos. Over this period, 65 species (14 species of mammals and 51 species of birds) in 13 orders and 30 families were recorded, including one first-class nationally protected species, Tragopan caboti, and 15 second-class nationally protected species, such as Macaca thibetana, Prionailurus bengalensis, Prionodon pardicolor, Arborophila gingica, Pitta nympha. Mammals with high relative abundance index included Dremomys pyrrhomerus, Muntiacus vaginalis, Melogale moschata, and Callosciurus erythraeus. Birds with high relative abundance index included Lophura nycthemera, Pterorhinus pectoralis, and Arborophila gingica. The higher species diversity occurred at altitudes of 900-1000 m and below 500 m. Species diversity was positively correlated with altitude, and such positive correlation was more pronounced in mammals. Meanwhile, species diversity was higher in the core and buffer areas of the reserve than the experimental area, and this difference was more pronounced in birds. When these results were compared to camera monitoring in neighboring reserves in the Nanling Mountains, Nanling reserve had the highest diversity of mammals, while Luokeng reserve and Nanling reserve had a higher bird species diversity. This survey had accumulated baseline data on the diversity of birds and mammals in Luokeng Reserve that future long-term monitoring programs of wildlife resources can build off. The study preliminarily grasped the diversity data of birds and mammals in the understory of Luokeng Nature Reserve, and thus accumulated basic data for the long-term monitoring of wildlife resources in the reserve and the entire Nanling Mountains in the future.

Key words: infrared camera, animal monitoring, bird diversity, mammal diversity, elevational difference, Luokeng