Volume 10 Issue 1
Nov.  2019
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Yan Chen, Yong Zhang, Lei Cao, Willem F. de Boer, Anthony D. Fox. 2019: Wintering Swan Geese maximize energy intake through substrate foraging depth when feeding on buried Vallisneria natans tubers. Avian Research, 10(1): 6. DOI: 10.1186/s40657-019-0145-x
Citation: Yan Chen, Yong Zhang, Lei Cao, Willem F. de Boer, Anthony D. Fox. 2019: Wintering Swan Geese maximize energy intake through substrate foraging depth when feeding on buried Vallisneria natans tubers. Avian Research, 10(1): 6. DOI: 10.1186/s40657-019-0145-x
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Wintering Swan Geese maximize energy intake through substrate foraging depth when feeding on buried Vallisneria natans tubers

  • 1.

    School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China

  • 2.

    Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China

  • 3.

    Research Center for Eco-Environmental Science, Chinese Academic of Sciences, 18 Shuangqing Road, Beijing 100085, China

  • 4.

    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China

  • 5.

    Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg3a, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands

  • 6.

    Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Kalø, Grenåvej 14, 8410 Rønde, Denmark

Funds: 

the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province BK20170922

the Key Strategic Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Water Ecological Security Assessment and Great Strategy Research of Middle and Lower Yangtze River ZDRW-ZS-2017-3

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    Graphical Abstract
    • Abstract
  • Background 

    Foraging theory predicts that animals select patches that offer the highest net rate of energy gain. Hence, prey distribution patterns and spatiotemporal heterogeneity play important roles in determining animal feeding patch selection. For waterfowl foraging on buried aquatic plant tubers, the distribution and biomass of these plant organs vary with depth in the substrate. Since excavation costs also increase with depth, the energy intake of the animals foraging on these plants is highly sediment depth dependent.

    Methods 

    Here, using observations of Swan Geese (Anser cygnoides) foraging on Vallisneria natans tubers, we test our hypothesis that geese feeding on tubers buried at intermediate sediment depth maximize their daily energy intake because of the interaction between tuber size and abundance with depth. To do this, we measured the distribution patterns of buried Vallisneria tubers under both undisturbed conditions and post-exploitation by geese (i.e. giving-up conditions). We investigated the relationship between tuber size and burial depth, and total tuber biomass within each sediment layer in undisturbed and exploited plots. Finally, we compared modelled Swan Goose daily energy intake feeding on Vallisneria tubers buried at different sediment layers (1-10, 11-20 and 21-30 cm below the surface).

    Results 

    Dry weight of Vallisneria tubers linearly increased with burial depth, while average total dry weight density of tubers showed a unimodal relationship, peaking at intermediate levels. Not surprisingly, Swan Geese foraged most intensively on tubers buried at intermediate sediment depths, where they maximize their daily energy intake. Our results support our hypothesis that Swan Geese feeding on tubers at intermediate depths maximize their daily energy intake.

    Conclusions 

    Our study is the first to quantify foraging strategies of Swan Geese during the wintering period, emphasizing the importance of plant traits on foraging selection of belowground foragers.

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  • The authors regret that Fig. 1 and its caption should be replaced as below.

    Figure  1.  The 35 national nature reserves, 16 wetlands of international importance, and 1 UNESCO world heritage site along China's coastal wetlands (till the end of 2022). Some national nature reserves are also wetlands of international importance. E, M, and L represent the national nature reserves that were designated in the 1980s, 1990s, and after 2000, respectively.
    DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

    In addition, the last sentence of the third paragraph of section "3.1. Policy and administration" should be:

    To improve the conservation of key waterbird habitats in the Yellow Sea region, which have high conservation priority for migratory birds in the EAAF, coastal wetlands in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province have been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site, "Migratory bird sanctuaries along the coast of the Yellow Sea‒Bohai Gulf of China (Phase Ⅰ)", in 2019 (Fig. 1; World Heritage Committee, 2019), and 11 sites have been included in the list of Phase Ⅱ applications.

    The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

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