Contrasting habitat use and conservation status of Chinese-wintering and other Eurasian Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) populations
Abstract Background GPS/GSM tracking data were used to contrast use of (i) habitats and (ii) protected areas between three Arctic-nesting Greater White-fronted Geese ( Anser albifrons , GWFG) populations throughout the annual cycle. We wished to demonstrate that the East Asian Continental Population...
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2021
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40657-021-00306-0 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s40657-021-00306-0.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40657-021-00306-0/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1186/s40657-021-00306-0 2023-05-15T15:19:37+02:00 Contrasting habitat use and conservation status of Chinese-wintering and other Eurasian Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) populations Deng, Xueqin Zhao, Qingshan Zhang, Junjian Kölzsch, Andrea Solovyeva, Diana Bysykatova-Harmey, Inga Xu, Zhenggang Kruckenberg, Helmut Cao, Lei Fox, Anthony David the National Natural Science Foundation of China China Biodiversity Observation Networks 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40657-021-00306-0 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s40657-021-00306-0.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40657-021-00306-0/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Avian Research volume 12, issue 1 ISSN 2053-7166 Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-021-00306-0 2022-01-04T16:42:18Z Abstract Background GPS/GSM tracking data were used to contrast use of (i) habitats and (ii) protected areas between three Arctic-nesting Greater White-fronted Geese ( Anser albifrons , GWFG) populations throughout the annual cycle. We wished to demonstrate that the East Asian Continental Population (which winters on natural wetlands in the Chinese Yangtze River floodplain and is currently declining) avoids using farmland at multiple wintering sites. We also gathered tracking evidence to support general observations from two increasing population of GWFG, the North Sea-Baltic (which winters in Europe) and the West Pacific (which winter in Korea and Japan) winter mostly within farmland landscapes, using wetlands only for safe night roosts. Methods We tracked 156 GWFG throughout their annual cycle using GPS/GSM transmitters from these three populations to determine migration routes and stopover staging patterns. We used Brownian Bridge Movement Models to generate summer, winter and migration stopover home ranges which we then overlaid in GIS with land cover and protected area boundary at national level to determine habitat use and degree of protection from nature conservation designated areas. Results Data confirmed that 73% of European wintering GWFG homes ranges were from within farmland, compared to 59% in Japan and Korea, but just 5% in China, confirming the heavy winter use of agricultural landscapes by GWFG away from China, and avoidance of farmland at multiple sites within the Yangtze River floodplain. The same GWFG used farmland in northeast China in spring and autumn, confirming their experience of exploiting such habitats at other stages of their annual cycle. Chinese wintering birds showed the greatest overlap with protected areas of all three populations, showing current levels of site safeguard are failing to protect this population. Conclusions Results confirm the need for strategic planning to protect the East Asian Continental GWFG population. While the site protection network in place to protect the species seems adequate, it has failed to stop the declines. Buffalo grazing could serve as one simple strategy to improve the condition of feeding habitats at Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake in the Yangtze, where vast Carex meadows exist. In addition, while we warn against pushing GWFG to winter farmland feeding in China because of the long-term potential to conflict with agricultural interests, we recommend experimental sacrificial, disturbance-free farmland within designated refuge areas adjacent to the Yangtze River floodplain wetland reserves as a manipulative experiment to improve the conservation status of this population in years when natural food sources are limited. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Springer Nature (via Crossref) Arctic Pacific Avian Research 12 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Deng, Xueqin Zhao, Qingshan Zhang, Junjian Kölzsch, Andrea Solovyeva, Diana Bysykatova-Harmey, Inga Xu, Zhenggang Kruckenberg, Helmut Cao, Lei Fox, Anthony David Contrasting habitat use and conservation status of Chinese-wintering and other Eurasian Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) populations |
topic_facet |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Background GPS/GSM tracking data were used to contrast use of (i) habitats and (ii) protected areas between three Arctic-nesting Greater White-fronted Geese ( Anser albifrons , GWFG) populations throughout the annual cycle. We wished to demonstrate that the East Asian Continental Population (which winters on natural wetlands in the Chinese Yangtze River floodplain and is currently declining) avoids using farmland at multiple wintering sites. We also gathered tracking evidence to support general observations from two increasing population of GWFG, the North Sea-Baltic (which winters in Europe) and the West Pacific (which winter in Korea and Japan) winter mostly within farmland landscapes, using wetlands only for safe night roosts. Methods We tracked 156 GWFG throughout their annual cycle using GPS/GSM transmitters from these three populations to determine migration routes and stopover staging patterns. We used Brownian Bridge Movement Models to generate summer, winter and migration stopover home ranges which we then overlaid in GIS with land cover and protected area boundary at national level to determine habitat use and degree of protection from nature conservation designated areas. Results Data confirmed that 73% of European wintering GWFG homes ranges were from within farmland, compared to 59% in Japan and Korea, but just 5% in China, confirming the heavy winter use of agricultural landscapes by GWFG away from China, and avoidance of farmland at multiple sites within the Yangtze River floodplain. The same GWFG used farmland in northeast China in spring and autumn, confirming their experience of exploiting such habitats at other stages of their annual cycle. Chinese wintering birds showed the greatest overlap with protected areas of all three populations, showing current levels of site safeguard are failing to protect this population. Conclusions Results confirm the need for strategic planning to protect the East Asian Continental GWFG population. While the site protection network in place to protect the species seems adequate, it has failed to stop the declines. Buffalo grazing could serve as one simple strategy to improve the condition of feeding habitats at Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake in the Yangtze, where vast Carex meadows exist. In addition, while we warn against pushing GWFG to winter farmland feeding in China because of the long-term potential to conflict with agricultural interests, we recommend experimental sacrificial, disturbance-free farmland within designated refuge areas adjacent to the Yangtze River floodplain wetland reserves as a manipulative experiment to improve the conservation status of this population in years when natural food sources are limited. |
author2 |
the National Natural Science Foundation of China China Biodiversity Observation Networks |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Deng, Xueqin Zhao, Qingshan Zhang, Junjian Kölzsch, Andrea Solovyeva, Diana Bysykatova-Harmey, Inga Xu, Zhenggang Kruckenberg, Helmut Cao, Lei Fox, Anthony David |
author_facet |
Deng, Xueqin Zhao, Qingshan Zhang, Junjian Kölzsch, Andrea Solovyeva, Diana Bysykatova-Harmey, Inga Xu, Zhenggang Kruckenberg, Helmut Cao, Lei Fox, Anthony David |
author_sort |
Deng, Xueqin |
title |
Contrasting habitat use and conservation status of Chinese-wintering and other Eurasian Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) populations |
title_short |
Contrasting habitat use and conservation status of Chinese-wintering and other Eurasian Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) populations |
title_full |
Contrasting habitat use and conservation status of Chinese-wintering and other Eurasian Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) populations |
title_fullStr |
Contrasting habitat use and conservation status of Chinese-wintering and other Eurasian Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) populations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Contrasting habitat use and conservation status of Chinese-wintering and other Eurasian Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) populations |
title_sort |
contrasting habitat use and conservation status of chinese-wintering and other eurasian greater white-fronted goose (anser albifrons) populations |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40657-021-00306-0 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s40657-021-00306-0.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40657-021-00306-0/fulltext.html |
geographic |
Arctic Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Pacific |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Avian Research volume 12, issue 1 ISSN 2053-7166 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-021-00306-0 |
container_title |
Avian Research |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766349819507376128 |