Effects of land-use change on the distribution of the wintering red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis) in the coastal area of northern Jiangsu Province, China

Abstract

The coastal area of northern Jiangsu (CNJ) is the largest silt coastal zone along the western Pacific Coast. This area is a newly established world natural heritage site and is also the largest winter habitat for the red-crowned crane in the world. However, rapid economic development in the study area has led to great changes in the types and intensities of land-use, which has had an effect on the distribution of wintering red-crowned cranes. In this paper, we first analyzed land-use change and determined the spatiotemporal evolution of land-use types and intensities in the study area. Then, the distribution of the red-crowned cranes was analyzed over various years. Finally, a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model was adopted to study the spatial differences in the effects of land-use types and intensity changes on the distribution of the cranes. The results showed that salt marsh (p<0.01), salt field (p<0.05) and paddy field (p<0.05) were positively correlated with red-crowned cranes. Dry land (p<0.05), construction land (p<0.01) and aquaculture pond (p<0.05) were negatively correlated with red-crowned cranes. There was a strongly negative correlation between land-use intensity and the red-crowned cranes (p<0.01). These positive and negative factors had significant spatial heterogeneity. Given these differences and the current local economic and land policies, we proposed the concrete countermeasures for red-crowned crane habitat protection and established a “friendly” land-use pattern that is beneficial for the protection of the crane population and restoration of its habitat.