Research on Rare Cranes Population Response to Land Use Change of Nature Wetland

Abstract

Shengjin Lake is the only national wetland nature reserve in Anhui Province with rare wintering waterbirds as the main protection object. In recent years, with the strengthening of human activities, the number of rare cranes has changed significantly. Taking the Shengjin Lake natural wetland as an example, this paper studied the response of crane population to land use change, which had important implications for the protection of cranes. This paper analyzed the land use of Shengjin Lake by referring to the eight periods of TM remote sensing images (1986, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2011 and 2015) and using ERDAS and ArcGIS tools. The diversity of bird habitats in Shengjin Lake nature reserve was analyzed. Combined with the changes in the number of rare cranes from 1986 to 2015, the impacts of land use and climate change on the cranes in protected areas were analyzed. The results showed that: there was a correlation between the number of cranes land use types and climate changes. The type of land of Shengjin Lake nature reserve was relatively small change in the early years in 1986. It was a relatively large change in the type of land, and the number of cranes had a significantly reducing in 1990s. It until 2000, the number of rare cranes had a slight rebound; however from 2012 to 2015, the number of cranes had dropped again. It had a greater influence on the number of cranes about the change of construction land, reeds mudflats, mudflats, marsh land and paddy fields in the wetland.