Spring And Summer Avian Community Structures And Breeding Behavioral Ecology Of Little Grebe In The Hulan River Wetlands, Heilongjiang Province

Quadrat method and point count method were adopted to investigate communitystructure of bird from March to October in2011and2012.143species of birds wasrecorded in Hulan River Wetlands, Heilongjiang province, and they belong to38familyof14order. The basic component of avian community was in accordance with thedistribution character of avian community in Northeast and wetland. The speciesdiversity index is2.50951, and evenness index is0.505659.Compared with the results of2006, there were22new species record, but113species of birds had not observation. One of the reason for the depletion in numbers,was that worldwide drop made a smaller met rate or some species disappeared in thestudy area. The succession of natural landscape was another reason. The most directimpact was the human disturbance and the construction in wetland.habitatfragmentation and the migratory bird no longer reproduced in the area.The survey shows that, in wetland, the mainly factors effecting avian communityincludes is the vegetation types, concealment place, food source, hydrological changesand human disturbance. Within the study area, there were mainly three affecting factors:(1) impact of the habitat change;(2) influence of the construction;(3) the humandisturbance. So we put forward the following management suggest:(1) protectingwetland environment;(2) protecting biological resources;(3) enhancing the basicresearch of the wetland conservation in order to realize scientific management andprotection of the wetlands.Day activity of breeding Little Grebe was observed and recorded by instantaneousscanning method and focal animal sampling method in Hulan River Wetlands. Wediscussed the breeding behavior, time budget and activity rhythm at different periods.The results indicated that Little Grebe migrates to the breeding area in the lateApril. The breeding time started in difference time and there has5-7eggs in a clutch.All adults taked part in26-37days for hatching,47-50days for breeding. We hadrecorded78types of behavior, and sumed up the ethogram of the reproduction period.We discussed the scientific significance of the Little Grebe individual behaviors. In hatching period, the ratio of the sitting time was almost half of the wholehatching period (46.96%), and it was periodical fluctuation. Feeding behavior had apeak at3:00to4:00PM. The female adult spent more time in the sitting than male.andmale in nesting behavior. The adults had very high vigilance，because of the otheranimals and human disturbance in the area. Covering of eggs is a kind of performancefor disturb in hatching period. This kind of behavior regarded as a method for thethermal insulation and protection and an adaptation for defending an natural hazards. Itreflect the strong survival value for the Little Grebe. In the process of vigilance, theadults had territory And male spent more time in protecting and guarding.In breeding period parental investment had gender differences.Female parentsspent more time in teaching, caring and alert, and male in feeding. The frequency forfeeding chicks varied with rearing period. Parents’ care gradually reduce with theteaching and the growth of nestlings. Teaching behavior is mainly reflected inswimming, preening, diving, hunting and bleating. There are also territorial activities inbreeding period to protect chick and breed within a certain range until the chick mixinggroup.