Organising a juvenile ratio monitoring programme for 10 key waterbird species in the Yangtze River floodplain: analysis and proposals

Yuxi Wang; Iderbat Damba; Qingshan Zhao; Yanbo Xie; Xueqing Deng; Rdi Ga; Guanhua Liu; Zhiwen Xu; Yue Li; Dali Gao; Wenbin Xu; Guoxun Chen; Lei Cao

doi:10.1186/s40657-021-00309-x

Volume 12 Issue 1

Jul. 2021

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Avian Research > 2021 > 12(1): 72. > DOI: 10.1186/s40657-021-00309-x

Yuxi Wang, Iderbat Damba, Qingshan Zhao, Yanbo Xie, Xueqing Deng, Rdi Ga, Guanhua Liu, Zhiwen Xu, Yue Li, Dali Gao, Wenbin Xu, Guoxun Chen, Lei Cao. 2021: Organising a juvenile ratio monitoring programme for 10 key waterbird species in the Yangtze River floodplain: analysis and proposals. Avian Research, 12(1): 72. DOI: 10.1186/s40657-021-00309-x

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Organising a juvenile ratio monitoring programme for 10 key waterbird species in the Yangtze River floodplain: analysis and proposals

Yuxi Wang¹,
Iderbat Damba^{2, 3, 4},
Qingshan Zhao²,
Yanbo Xie⁵,
Xueqing Deng^{2, 3},
Rdi Ga⁶,
Guanhua Liu⁷,
Zhiwen Xu⁷,
Yue Li⁸,
Dali Gao⁹,
Wenbin Xu¹⁰,
Guoxun Chen¹¹,
Lei Cao^{2, 3, ,}

1.
School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
2.
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China
3.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
4.
Institute of Biology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, 13330, Mongolia
5.
Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
6.
College of Life Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Huhehaote, 010000, China
7.
Jiangxi Poyang Lake National Reserve Authority, Nan Chang, 330038, China
8.
Authority of Jiangxi Duchang Provincial Natural Reserve, Duchang, 332600, China
9.
Authority of East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve, Yueyang, 414000, China
10.
Anhui Shengjin Lake National Reserve Authority, Dongzhi, 247000, China
11.
Authority of Longgang Lake National Nature Reserve, Huanggang, 435500, China

Funds:

the National Natural Science Foundation of China 31870369

the National Natural Science Foundation of China 31970433

China Biodiversity Observation Networks (Sino BON)

the National Natural Science Foundation of China (CN) 31670424

More Information

Corresponding author:
Lei Cao, leicao@rcees.ac.cn
Received Date: 25 Feb 2021
Accepted Date: 28 Nov 2021
Available Online: 24 Apr 2022
Publish Date: 09 Dec 2021

Graphical Abstract

Abstract

Abstract

Background
In the face of continued degradation and loss of wetlands in the Yangtze River floodplain (YRF), there is an urgent need to monitor the abundance and distribution of wintering waterbirds. To understand fully observed annual changes, we need to monitor demographic rates to understand factors affecting global population size. Annual reproduction success contributes to dynamic changes in population size and age structure, so an assessment of the juvenile ratio (i.e. first winter birds as a proportion of total number aged) of overwintering waterbirds can be an important indicator of the reproductive success in the preceding breeding season.
Methods
During 2016–2019, we sampled juvenile ratios among 10 key waterbird species from the wetlands in the YRF. Based on these data, we here attempt to establish a simple, efficient, focused and reliable juvenile ratio monitoring scheme, to assess consistently and accurately relative annual breeding success and its contribution to the age structure among these waterbird species.
Results
We compared juvenile ratio data collected throughout the winter and found that the optimal time for undertaking these samples was in the early stages of arrival for migratory waterbirds reaching their wintering area (early to mid-December). We recommend counting consistently at key points (i.e. those where > 1% biogeographical flyway population were counted) at sites of major flyway importance (Poyang Lake, East Dongting Lake, Shengjin Lake, Caizi Lake, Longgan Lake and Chen Lake). Based on this, the error rate of the programme (155 planned points, the count of 10 waterbird species is 826–8955) is less than 5%.
Conclusions
We established a juvenile ratio monitoring programme for 10 key waterbird species in the wetlands of the YRF, and discuss the feasibility and necessity of implementing such a future programme, and how to use these data in our monitoring and understanding of the population dynamics of these waterbird populations.
- Juvenile ratio,
- Monitoring scheme,
- The Yangtze River floodplain,
- Statistical independence

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Correction to: Avian Res (2021) 12:19

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-021-00254-9

Following publication of the original article (Hou et al. 2021), the authors identified an error in Fig. 1. The correct figure is given below.

Figure 1. The experiment design in this study

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

The original article (Hou et al. 2021) has been updated.

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Organising a juvenile ratio monitoring programme for 10 key waterbird species in the Yangtze River floodplain: analysis and proposals