Foraging Habitat Suitability Assessment Of Common Crane During Wintering Period In Yancheng Nature Reserve Of Jiangsu Province

Common cranes(Grus grus)is a class ? protected wildlife in China.It is the largest and most widely distributed crane in the world.This paper studies the foraging habitat of Common cranes in Yancheng Wetland National Nature Reserve of Jiangsu Province(hereinafter referred to as Jiangsu Yancheng Nature Reserve),so as to provide a theoretical basis for the follow-up research on Common cranes.In the wintering period in 2018 and 2019,the paper studies and analyzes the population distribution,the characteristics of foraging habitat and the suitability of foraging habitat of Common cranes in Yancheng Nature Reserve of Jiangsu Province by using fixed point observation,GPS positioning,sample method,principal component analysis and Maxent model.The main results are as follows:(1)In Yancheng Nature Reserve of Jiangsu Province,Common cranes live in groups during the wintering period,more than 1700 Common cranes were observed in the overwintering period in 2018;more than 1600 Common cranes were observed in the overwintering period in 2019.(2)The wintering period Common cranes mainly distributed in the North buffer zone,followed by the core zone,the South buffer zone and the first experimental zone in the south,the Second Experimental Zone in the south,and the rest of the reserve.The Common cranes mainly feeds on grain during wintering period,and its foraging habitat is more inclined to farmland habitat during wintering period.(3)According to the research,the 13 habitat factors of wintering period foraging habitat of Common cranes can be summarized as follows:Food and water factors(Farmland distance,Water surface distance,Vegetation height,Vegetation density,Vegetation coverage,Diameter of vegetation,Altitude and Depth of water);Interference factor(Road distance,Interference distance and Residential area distance);Concealment factor(Reed distance and Height of reed).(4)The MaxEnt model analysis shows that:The most suitable foraging habitat area for Common cranes in winter period is 17814.63 ha,accounting for 8.55%of the total area of Yancheng Nature Reserve in Jiangsu Province.The suitable area is 19463.8 ha,accounting for 9.34%of the total area of the reserve.The second suitable area is 17549.58 ha,accounting for 8.42%of the total area of the reserve.The area of unsuitable area is 153478.89 ha,accounting for 73.68%of the total area of the reserve.(5)The results showed that the suitable foraging habitat for Common cranes was mainly in the winter period:The core area is close to Xinyang port.Reed company,yizhiqu,wutiaogang and Shagang village in North buffer zone.Kaiming village,Xiaba village and Fangqiang farm in South buffer zone.Shanghai farm in the South first experimental area.The gap of“T-shape(Milu Park Reserve)”in Naner experimental area and soon.