Studies On Conservation Biology Of Whooper Swan(Cvgnus Cvgnus)

Whooper Swan（Cygnus cygnus）is listed as the second national key protected birds inChina. The important breeding areas of Whooper Swans in China are located at ZhalongNational Nature Reserve (NNR) Xingkai Lake NNR, Sanjiang plain NNR of Heilongjiang, andBayanbulak NNR of Xinjiang etc. The major wintering areas are located at the east coast ofTianjin and Heibei, Rongcheng NNR, Yellow River Delta NNR, and Chengkou of Shandong,Pinglu of Shanxi, Sanmenxia NNR of Henan, Gahai NNR of Gansu, Qinghai Lake NNR andSouthern Xinjiang etc. Since2005, a large number of the swans had died from H5N1epidemic,arousing serious concern of researchers at home and abroad. In order to better understand thepopulation ecology of the swans, we have studied on the diurnal behaviors patterns and habitatselection of the species at Pinglu of Shanxi and Bayanbulak NNR of Xinjiang, respectivelyfrom2011to2013. In addition, investigations on population dynamic of the species in someimportant wintering areas and stopover sites were performed. The main conclusions are asfollows:1. Population distribution of Whooper Swans at important areas in China.Three wintering areas and one stopover site of Whooper Swans were investigated. Thethree wintering areas are located at Qinghai Lake, the Yellow River wetland near Pinglu andRongcheng of Shandong. The stopover site is located in Yulin of Shannxi. The results showedthat the swans wintering population in Qinghai Lake was the largest among the three winteringareas, and the peak population was more than2000every year. Especially in November19th of2010, the recorded population was4576, which was the largest number in the past4years. Thelargest recorded population in the Yellow River wetland near Pinglu of Shanxi was1806, and1511in Rongcheng of Shandong. From November17th to18th,2011, the swan populationstopped in Yulin of Shaanxi was5006. During the surveys, it was found that Pinlu andRongcheng as the important wintering areas, and Yulin as the important stopover site were destroyed, such as dam and road construction at Wuding River wetland, pond digging nearPinlu of Shanxi, and fishing at Rongcheng of Shandong. Finally, some effective measures wereput forword to protect the species.2. Studies on the Habitat selection mechanism of Whooper Swans during breeding seasonin Bayanbulak, Xinjiang.From June to August in2011and from June to August in2012, the investigation on theWhooper Swan populations during breeding season was performed in Bayanbulak NatureReserve of Xinjiang by line transect methods. Based on the observation, a total of26WhooperSwans’ nest sites had been found, and9habitat factors were measured in each nest, includingplant species richness, vegetation coverage, vegetation height, water depth, distance fromlakeside, waters area, distance from disturbance, hiding scale and safety degree. We selected30control plots, which were about30meters away from the nests. Comparing the selceted nestsites with the control plots, there were significant differences in the factors of vegetation height,water depth, waters area, distance to disturbance, and safety degree. The results showed thatthe Whooper Swans prefer to build nests with denser vegetations, deeper water, larger watersarea, farther from disturbance and higher safety degree, which can provide abundant food andsafe nest sites. The logistic regression analysis showed that the vegetation height, water depthand the safety degree were the three most important factors of nest site selection. Based on theobservation on the brood habitat selection, it was found that the Whooper Swans tended toselect swamps and avoid grasslands, because swamps were closer to water and with highervegetation. We also selected50brood habitat plots and40control plots, and the researchesshowed that there were significant differences in nine factors, which indicated that theWhooper Swans prefered fewer and lower vegetations habitats, deeper waters, larger watersarea, farther from disturbance during the brooding period. The logistic regression analysisshowed that the distance to disturbance and the safety degree were the two most importantfactors dominating the brood habitat selection.3. Studies on Diurnal behavior patterns of the wintering Whooper Swans at the YellowRiver wetland at Pinglu of Shanxi. From December2011to February2012and from November2012to January2013,researches on the Whooper Swans’ diurnal activity allotment and rhythm at the Yellow Riverwetland at Pinglu were conducted with instantaneous scan sampling methods. During thewintering period, the major behaviors of the Whooper Swans were resting, locomotion andforaging, which accounted for40.5%,22.8%and18.2%, respectively. Diurnal rhythms showedthat there were two foraging peaks in the morning and evening, and the resting peaks appearedin the morning and noon. The research results on the diurnal activity allotment of the WhooperSwans in different human disturbances showed that there existed obvious differences on theirbehavior patterns. Compared with the Guanjiawo Village, which is with less interference，theWhooper Swans in the Sanwan Village spent more time on locomotion and fighting, whilespent less time on resting and alerting. Compared with the diurnal activity time of thewintering Whooper Swans in Qinghai Lake, the Whooper Swans in Guanjiawo Village werehigher in foraging and alarming, while resting and maintenance took lower percentage. Theresearches on diurnal activity of the Whooper Swans in different months showed that theforaging peaked in November and February, and resting and maintenance peaked in January.The chi-square test showed that the activity of Whooper Swans in different months presentedsignificant differences. According to the researches on the relationship between the behaviorsand temperatures with the Pearson correlation analysis, it could be seen that the behaviors offoraging, locomotion and maintenance were in significantly positive correlation with thetemperature, while the resting and alerting were in significantly negative correlation with thetemperature.