Landscape Attributes Best Explain the Population Trend of Wintering Greater White-Fronted Goose ( Anser albifrons ) in the Yangtze River Floodplain

Sheng Chen, Yong Zhang, Amaël Borzée, Tao Liang, Manyu Zhang, Hui Shi, Bin Chen, Wenbin Xu, Yunwei Song and Lingfeng Mao
Additional contact information
Sheng Chen: Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Yong Zhang: Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Amaël Borzée: Laboratory of Animal Behaviour and Conservation, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Tao Liang: Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Manyu Zhang: Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Hui Shi: Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Bin Chen: Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Wenbin Xu: Anhui Shengjin Lake National Nature Reserve, Dongzhi 247200, China
Yunwei Song: Anhui Shengjin Lake National Nature Reserve, Dongzhi 247200, China
Lingfeng Mao: Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: Biodiversity in the Middle and Lower Yangtze Floodplain has critically decreased during the last several decades, driven by numerous determinants. Hence, identification of primary drivers of animal population decline is a priority for conservation. Analyzing long time-series data is a powerful way to assess drivers of declines, but the data are often missing, hampering effective conservation policymaking. In this study, based on twenty-four years (from 1996 to 2019) of annual maximal count data, we investigated the effects of climate and landscape changes on the increasing population trend of the Greater White-Fronted Goose ( Anser albifrons ) at a Ramsar site in the Middle and Lower Yangtze Floodplain, China. Our results showed that the availability of a suitable habitat and landscape attributes are the key driving forces affecting the population trend, while the effects of climate factors are weak. Specifically, increasing the area of suitable habitat and alleviating habitat fragmentation through a fishing ban policy may have provided a more suitable habitat to the geese, contributing to the increasing population trend. However, we also observed that the grazing prohibition policy implemented in 2017 at Shengjin Lake may have potentially negatively affected geese abundance, as grazing by larger herbivores may favor smaller geese species by modifying the vegetation community and structure. Based on our results, we suggest several practical countermeasures to improve the habitat suitability for herbivorous goose species wintering in this region.

Keywords: Anatidae; population trend; landscape changes; recessional grassland; Yangtze wetlands; bird conservation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/8/865/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/8/865/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:8:p:865-:d:616401

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().