Habitat Change Of Waterfowl And Nest-site Selection Of Ardeidae Birds In Zhangjiang Estuary Nature Reserve Of Mangrove

In Zhangjiang Estuary Nature Reserve of Mangrove, a research on bird diversity and their habitats in winter was conducted from January to February in2011to2012by the sampling survey and line transect survey. Based on the3S technology, the changed of land-use map and habitat factor were analyzed. A study of nest-site selection of Ardeidae birds was conducted by sampling survey and line transect survey at Zhangjiang Estuary in Fujian from April to May in2011and2012. Datasets of all Ardeidae birds’ nests were collected in study area. and we conducted a t-test to analyze influence of habitat factors on nest-site selection. The results are as follows:The vegetation is flourishing and the soil’ physicochemical properties and other wetland vegetation were affected by the Spartina alterniflora. The water qualities are still very well and the total nutrient pool is very high. They also affected by tidewater and show some laws of distribution.We recorded62species belonging to22families11orders. Of these,43species (69.35%) are waterfowl. Anatidae birds (35.46%), Ardeidae birds (21.51%), Lariformes birds(16.78%) and Charadriidae birds (10.08%) are very common in study area.The habitat factors are changed a lot. The natural wetland food, intermittent hydrops and irregular hydrops area are decline, in contrast, sea-farming food and shallow hydrops are increased. Shelter condition was keeping steady during the period.The study result of Independent-Sample t-test indicated that those habitat factors, including base diameter, average height, density, coverage, proportion of Kandelia obovata, were significantly different between nest occurence plots (n=23) and absence plots(control plots)(n=37)(P<0.05). Also, significant differences existed highly in proportion of Avicennia marina, distance to road, to village and to culture pond (P<0.01). Principal component analysis shown that both of vegetation structure and disturbance sources is the main habitat factors related to nest-site selection of Ardeidae birds.Vegetation structure could influence community structure of Ardeidae birds and could be influenced by assembling breeding behavior.