Abstract:
Bird abundance, distribution, and diversity in five regions of Poyang Lake, Jiangxi Province were investigated from October 2012 to April 2013. A total of 68 species were recorded. Bean goose (Anser fabalis), Tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus), and swan goose (Anser cygnoides) were dominant in Poyang Lake during this study. Dominant species differed in the five regions, although bean goose was the common dominant species in four regions. Most dominant or common species had no significant differences among the five regions. Bird composition was similar among Poyang Baishazhou Natural Reserve (BSZ), Nanjishan Wetland Nature Reserve (NJS) and Duchang Migratory Bird Reserve (DC), and many species had similar preferences for these three regions. The number of species in DC was high for most times. Bird diversity was higher in mid-winter than in early or late winter with the exception of NJS. PWC and PHF had steady and high evenness index. Podicipediformes was very common in early or late winter in all study regions because shallow areas dominated in our study area during midwinter. The proportion of Gruiformes increased gradually in PWC, PHF, and BSZ from November. Charadriiformes had lower proportions in NJS and BSZ. The Anseriformes proportion rapidly increased in most regions in November and stayed high until March, then decreased gradually. Ciconiiformes had high proportion in PWC and PHF in October and January, indicating that this species migrated to breeding sites earlier; this may be related to its long hatching and incubation period. A repeatable and robust sampling protocol should be developed to monitor the birds studied here, and to report annually.
Page(s):
451-462
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Pakistan Journal of Zoology, Volume: 46, Issue: 2, Year: 2014