Shaanxi Province, The Middle Reaches Of The Yellow River Wetland Winter Bird Community Structure And Habitat Selection

The investigation on the waterfowl community and habitat selection was conducted from October 2007 to March 2010 at Yellow River wetlands in Shaanxi Province. The evalution on the quality of regional environment was practised, and the implications of our results for the conservation were also considered.The major conclusions from this research are as follows:1,Avian community structureIn total,124 bird species was recorded which belong to 76 genera,36 families and 14 orders. There are 54 species(43.5%)of residents,43 species(34.7%)of winter residents,27 species(21.8%)of travelers.Among these species, four of them were national first-grade protected birds, including the Oriental White Stork, the Black Stork, the Great Bustard and the Golden Eagle and nineteen of them were national second-grade protected birds. The Demoiselle Crane was recorded firstly at Yellow River wetlands of Shaanxi Province. There were two migration peaks in late November and early March. The research indicated that the main factors which influenced bird species diversity were the fluctuation of runoff, habitat fragmentation and human disturbance.2,Comparison of avian communities indexThe Shannon-Wiener and Pielou index with a maximum in October that reduced subsequently in fish ponds, reed swamps, artificial forests, farmlands and beaches in river in December were related to the migration status of the waterfowls. The similarity index was largest (0.383) between artificial fish ponds and reed swamps and then declined gradually between reed marshes and beaches in river(0.316), artificial ponds and beaches in river (0.295). reed swamps and farmlands (0.250), artificial fish ponds and farmlands (0.170), beaches in river and farmlands (0.143), artificial forests and farmlands (0.064), reed swamps and artificial forests (0.061), forests and beaches in rivers (0.053).3,The number fluctuation of the dominant waterfowls and migratory statusSixty-three species including 20 Anseriformes,23 Charadriiformes and 20 other species was recorded during a 2-year period census. The wild ducks with largest numbers migrated to the area when the Spot-billed duck arrived firstly in late October. Then the Whooper Swan, Bean Goose, Ruddy Shelduck, Gadwall. Green-winged Duck, Mallard, Smew, Common Merganser and Common pochard arrived successively in late November and reached a maximum both in species and numbers in December. The number of some large-sized species such as the Whooper Swan, Black Stork decreased rapidly because of the habitat loss and fragmentation from the extensive reclamation of the Yellow River wetlands.4,The relationship between birds and habitats.In artificial ponds habitat, bird species number had negative correlated with the building area and deep water and intensity of human activities and had positively correlated with shallow water area. The bird density had negative correlated with the building area, the bird diversity had positively correlated with vegetation diversity and negative correlated with intensity of human activities. The research indicated that the main factors which influenced the distribution of birds were the building area and intensity of human activities and water depth.5,Suggests of protection and managementBased on the above conclusion and the wetland condition, the existent problems of the Yellow River in Shaanxi Province of wetland birds and the factors affecting the distribution of waterbirds had been discussed and some reasonable protective measures and management strategies had been proposed.