Potential Habitats and Their Conservation Status for Swan Geese (Anser cygnoides) along the East Asian Flyway
Open Access
- 14 April 2022
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in Remote Sensing
- Vol. 14 (8) , 1899
Abstract
Habitats provide essential space for migratory birds to survive and reproduce. Identifying potential habitats in annual cycle stages and their influencing factors is indispensable for conservation along the flyway. In this study, we obtained satellite tracking of eight swan geese (Anser cygnoides) wintering at Poyang Lake (28°57′4.2″, 116°21′53.36″) from 2019 to 2020. Using the Maximum Entropy species distribution model, we investigated the potential habitats distribution of the swan geese during their migration cycle. We analyzed the relative contribution of various environmental factors to habitat suitability and conservation status for each potential habitat along the flyway. Our results show that the primary wintering grounds of swan geese are located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Stopover sites were widely distributed, mainly in the Bohai Rim, the middle reaches of the Yellow River, and the Northeast Plain, and extended westward to Inner Mongolia and Mongolia. Breeding grounds are mainly in Inner Mongolia and eastern Mongolia, while some are scattered in Mongolia’s central and western. The contribution rates of major environmental factors are different in breeding grounds, stopover sites, and wintering grounds. Breeding grounds were influenced by slope, elevation, and temperature. Slope, human footprint index, and temperature were the main factors that affected stopover sites. Wintering grounds were determined by land use, elevation, and precipitation. The conservation status of habitats is 9.6% for breeding grounds, 9.2% for wintering grounds, and 5.3% for stopover sites. Our findings thus provide a critically international assessment of potential habitats protection for geese species on the East Asian Flyway.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41701212)
- Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Science, China (Grant No.XDA19020305)
- Network infornation program of Chinese Academy of Science, China (CAS-WX2021SF-0501)
This publication has 59 references indexed in Scilit:
- The effects of small sample size and sample bias on threshold selection and accuracy assessment of species distribution modelsEcography, 2012
- Changing distribution and abundance of Swan GooseAnser cygnoidesin the Yangtze River floodplain: the likely loss of a very important wintering siteBird Conservation International, 2010
- Anatidae in eastern China during the non-breeding season: Geographical distributions and protection statusBiological Conservation, 2010
- Key conservation issues for migratory land- and waterbird species on the world's major flywaysBird Conservation International, 2008
- Climatic effects on the breeding phenology and reproductive success of an arctic‐nesting goose speciesGlobal Change Biology, 2008
- Landscape modification and habitat fragmentation: a synthesisGlobal Ecology and Biogeography, 2007
- The effect of sample size and species characteristics on performance of different species distribution modeling methodsEcography, 2006
- Selecting thresholds of occurrence in the prediction of species distributionsEcography, 2005
- Responses of waterbirds to flooding in an arid region of Australia and implications for conservationBiological Conservation, 2002
- A review of methods for the assessment of prediction errors in conservation presence/absence modelsEnvironmental Conservation, 1997