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.
Highlights
Wildlife population trends can be affected by various environmental and anthropogenic factors [1]
In this study, based on twenty-four years of continuous waterbird monitoring, we investigated how landscape change, habitat fragmentation, as well as climate factors have affected the population trends of the Greater White-Fronted Goose at the Shengjin Lake National landscape change, habitat fragmentation, as well as climate factors have affected the population trends of the Greater White-Fronted Goose at the Shengjin Lake National Nature
We demonstrated availability of suitable habitat and landscape attributes are the key drivers governing that the availability of suitable habitat and landscape attributes are the key drivers govpopulation trends, while the effects of climate factors are weak
Summary
Wildlife population trends can be affected by various environmental and anthropogenic factors [1]. Land use and climate change are considered to be the major threats [2,3]. Fragmentation, and degradation severely affect bird species abundance, distribution range, trend, and diversity [3,4,5]. Poleward shifts have been documented for bird species under the influence of global warming [6]. As long time-series data are often limited to a small number of systems or regions [7], a comprehensive understanding of the causal effects of land use and climate changes on individual bird species is still largely missing, hindering effective conservation. Known as a valuable natural ecosystem type, wetlands provide important ecosystem services globally, such as flood control, water purification, and carbon sequestration [8], and provide food and shelter for numerous species [9].
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