Dataset Information

Spring migration patterns, habitat use, and stopover site protection status for two declining waterfowl species wintering in China as revealed by satellite tracking.

ABSTRACT: East Asian migratory waterfowl have greatly declined since the 1950s, especially the populations that winter in China. Conservation is severely hampered by the lack of primary information about migration patterns and stopover sites. This study utilizes satellite tracking techniques and advanced spatial analyses to investigate spring migration of the greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons) and tundra bean goose (Anser serrirostris) wintering along the Yangtze River Floodplain. Based on 24 tracks obtained from 21 individuals during the spring of 2015 and 2016, we found that the Northeast China Plain is far-out the most intensively used stopover site during migration, with geese staying for over 1 month. This region has also been intensely developed for agriculture, suggesting a causal link to the decline in East Asian waterfowl wintering in China. The protection of waterbodies used as roosting area, especially those surrounded by intensive foraging land, is critical for waterfowl survival. Over 90% of the core area used during spring migration is not protected. We suggest that future ground surveys should target these areas to confirm their relevance for migratory waterfowl at the population level, and core roosting area at critical spring-staging sites should be integrated in the network of protected areas along the flyway. Moreover, the potential bird-human conflict in core stopover area needs to be further studied. Our study illustrates how satellite tracking combined with spatial analyses can provide crucial insights necessary to improve the conservation of declining Migratory species.

SUBMITTER: Si Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6024133 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Spring migration patterns, habitat use, and stopover site protection status for two declining waterfowl species wintering in China as revealed by satellite tracking.

Si Yali Y Xu Yanjie Y Xu Fei F Li Xueyan X Zhang Wenyuan W Wielstra Ben B Wei Jie J Liu Guanhua G Luo Hao H Takekawa John J Balachandran Sivananintha S Zhang Tao T de Boer Willem F WF Prins Herbert H T HHT Gong Peng P

Ecology and evolution 20180524 12

East Asian migratory waterfowl have greatly declined since the 1950s, especially the populations that winter in China. Conservation is severely hampered by the lack of primary information about migration patterns and stopover sites. This study utilizes satellite tracking techniques and advanced spatial analyses to investigate spring migration of the greater white-fronted goose (<i>Anser albifrons</i>) and tundra bean goose (<i>Anser serrirostris</i>) wintering along the Yangtze River Floodplain. ...[more]

PMID: 29988414

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Project description:Background:While goose populations worldwide benefit from food provided by farmland, China's threatened wintering goose populations have failed to capitalize on farmland. It has been proposed that, due to an exceptionally intense human pressure on Chinese farmland, geese cannot exploit farmland in their wintering sites and hence are confined to their deteriorating natural habitat. If this were true, locally decreasing this human pressure on farmland 'refuges' would represent a promising conservation measure. Methods:We investigate habitat use of two declining migratory goose species in their core wintering (Yangtze River Floodplain) and stopover (Northeast China Plain) regions, compare the human pressure level at both regions, and adopt a mixed-effect resource selection function model to test how human pressure, food resource type (farmland or wetland/grass), distance to roosts, and their interaction terms influence the utilization of food resources for each species and region. To this aim we use satellite tracking of 28 tundra bean geese Anser serrirostris and 55 greater white-fronted geese A. albifrons, a newly produced 30?m land cover map, and the terrestrial human footprint map. Results:Geese use farmland intensively at their stopover site, but hardly at their wintering site, though both regions have farmland available at a similar proportion. The human pressure on both farmland and wetland/grass is significantly lower at the stopover region compared to the wintering region. At both sites, the two goose species actively select for farmland and/or wetland/grass with a relatively low human pressure, positioned relatively close to their roosting sites. Conclusions:Our findings suggest that if human pressure were to decrease in the farmlands close to the roost, China's wintering geese could benefit from farmland. We recommend setting aside farmland near roosting sites that already experiences a relatively low human pressure as goose refuges, and adopt measures to further reduce human pressure and increase food quality and quantity, to help counter the decline of China's wintering goose populations. Our study has important conservation implications and offers a practical measure for migratory waterfowl conservation in areas of high human-wildlife conflict.

Project description:BackgroundFledglings of many mature forest-dependent Neotropical songbirds move from mature forest habitats into areas of thick vegetation such as regenerating clearcuts. The Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea), a Neotropical migratory songbird, is a species of conservation concern across its range and it is listed as endangered in Indiana. This species has declined faster than any other species of wood-warbler in North America. Most prior research on Cerulean Warblers has examined the breeding biology, but there are no data on habitat use by fledgling Cerulean Warblers. Our research aimed to determine where fledgling Cerulean Warblers dispersed after they left their nest, but before they migrated to their wintering grounds.MethodsSince 2007, Cerulean Warbler breeding populations have been monitored in Yellowwood and Morgan-Monroe state forests in southern Indiana as part of a 100-year study called the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment. To identify habitats used by fledgling Cerulean Warblers, we captured by hand or mist-nets, adult and juvenile Cerulean Warblers once young had fledged from a nest. We attached radio-transmitters to individuals and tracked each bird daily using radio-telemetry. Radio-telemetry data were collected from May to July 2015-2017, and microhabitat data on fledgling locations and random locations were collected during the same years in the month of July.ResultsFledgling presence, when compared to random non-use sites, was positively correlated to presence of grapevines, greater vertical vegetation density, and greater ground and canopy cover. Fledgling presence was negatively correlated with white oak abundance, aspect, basal area, and the abundance of mature trees that Cerulean Warbler adults use for nesting.ConclusionsOur study is the first to demonstrate that Cerulean Warbler fledglings occupy habitats that are characterized by specific habitat components. Fledgling sites were located in areas with high vegetation density, such as clusters of grapevine, which provided cover from predators. Identifying Cerulean Warbler habitats throughout the breeding season can better inform natural resource personnel on how to manage forests to meet the habitat needs of this rapidly declining migratory songbird.

Dataset Information

Spring migration patterns, habitat use, and stopover site protection status for two declining waterfowl species wintering in China as revealed by satellite tracking.

Publications

Spring migration patterns, habitat use, and stopover site protection status for two declining waterfowl species wintering in China as revealed by satellite tracking.

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