Title: Waterbird Communities Comparison with Twenty Years Ago in Lugu Lake and Its Adjacent Zhudihai Wetland, SW China
Abstract: Lugu Lake is an important wintering site for migrating waterbirds in southwest China, and it is a famous tourism scenic area as well. To understand waterbirds community composition and dynamic change in Lugu Lake and Zhudihai Wetland about 500 m apart in the northwest in winter(from October 2013 to February 2014) monthly(except for December). The wintering waterbirds were count by five at 13 sites in Lugu Lake(Fig. 1), while only four times at one site in Zhudihai Wetland(Fig. 1). Total 27 species(see appendix) was record in Lugu Lake, including one Ranked Ⅱ national protected species, namely the common crane(Grus grus). The maximum waterbird observed there was about 22 600 individuals, which meet the standard of Ramsar wetlands. The waterbirds was dominated by coot(Fulica atra) with maximum individuals of 10 300. Total 16 species(see Appendix) was recorded in Zhudihai wetand in spite of its area being as small as 0.4 km2. The maximum birds observed was about 3 600 individuals dominated by Ruddy Shelduck(Tadorna ferruginea) with maximum number of 2 700. Comparison with the survey data collected in 1992 in both Lugu Lake and Zhudihai wetland, five species were added and eight were lost from the bird community, resulted in the species richness reduced from original 33 to 30. However, the waterbird abundance in the two wetlands was stable. Some of the dabbling ducks and wading birds were listed in the name list of disappeared species since 1990 s, which might be caused by the booming tourism near lake shore. The ever dominant species Red-crested Pochard(Netta rufina) lost about half of its wintering population in Lugu Lake compared with the data collected in 1992, which indicated the ecosystem in Lugu Lake might undergo some change. Considering the species richness in Zhudihai wetland, we suggested it need to be intergraded in the Lugu Lake Nature Reserve system and to protect the shallow water habitat remained in Lugu Lake to stop species richness decreasing in light of the further development of tourism.
Publication Year: 2015
Publication Date: 2015-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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