Study On Bird Community And Bird Strike Risk At Weifang Airport

Bird strike,also known as bird collision,is defined by the Department of Airports of the Civil Aviation Administration of China as an accident in which a bird or bat collides with an aircraft.The ecological environment around airports in different geographical locations varies greatly,so it is of great scientific significance to study the distribution pattern of bird communities in and around airports to prevent bird strikes.Weifang Nanyuan Airport,which is a 4D civil-military airport expanded from a military airport,is located in Kuiwen District,Weifang City,Shandong Province,only 7 km from the city center.The area of surrounding rivers and wetlands is large and the bird situation is complicated,which has a great potential risk to the flight safety of the airport.In order to grasp the distribution characteristics of birds in the airport and its surrounding areas,this study conducted a one-year survey from March 2021 to February 2022,using the airport micro grid bird data collection system designed and developed by our research group and the traditional sampling method.The main results are as follows:(1)A total of 61,378 birds in 17 orders and 39 families and 85 species were recorded in the airport and its surrounding areas.There are 39 species of resident birds,20 species of traveling birds,19 species of summer migratory birds and 7 species of winter migratory birds.In terms of avifauna,44 species are Palaearctic species,accounting for more than half of the surveyed bird species.There are 14 species listed in Level II of key protected wild animals in China,2 species listed as Near Threatened in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species,39 species of birds listed in the Agreement between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Japan on the Protection of Migratory Birds and their Habitat,and 7 species of birds listed in the Agreement between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of Australia on the Protection of Migratory Birds and their Habitat.(2)A total of 5700 bird counts were recorded in the airport flight area for four months in 2021(March,June,September and December),with a total number of 52,878 birds.In terms of each phase of aircraft flight,the distribution of bird numbers in the bird repelling function area was as follows: Lawn area at the runway end(IX,X)> Running take-off(III,IV)> Taxiing(I,II)> Offland takeoff(V,VI)> Climb(VII,VIII).The distribution of bird numbers in the lawn microgrid is as follows: Risk identification zone(zone c)> Potential risk zone(zone a)> Risk judgment zone(zone b)> Active safety zone(zone d).The recorded data showed that birds with flight altitude concentrated below 30 meters accounted for more than 90% of the total number of birds.(3)A total of 8332 birds of 67 species in 16 orders and 35 families were recorded within 15 km around the airport,of which 2048 birds of 43 species were recorded in spring,1577 birds of 39 species in summer,2751 birds of 32 species in autumn and 1920 birds of 33 species in winter.The richness of birds in spring was significantly higher than that in autumn and winter,and the richness of birds in summer was significantly higher than that in winter.The richness and diversity indices were significantly higher in spring and summer than in autumn and winter.The dominance index was significantly higher in spring than in winter.The similarity indices showed that the similarity indices were higher between all four seasons,with the highest similarity indices between spring and winter,with a total of up to 27 species.(4)There are significant differences in bird richness and abundance among different habitats around the airport.The richness and richness index of birds in coniferous broad-leaved mixed forest were significantly higher than those in villages,orchards,dry fields and rivers;the abundance of birds in coniferous broad-leaved mixed forest was significantly higher than those in villages and orchards,and the diversity index of birds in coniferous broad-leaved mixed forest was significantly higher than those in villages and rivers.The similarity analysis results show that the similarity coefficient between deciduous broad-leaved forest and coniferous broad-leaved mixed forest habitats is the highest,with 16 common bird species,indicating a high overlap of bird community structure within the two habitats;rivers had the lowest similarity coefficients with orchards and coniferous broad-leaved mixed forests.(5)The diversity index of various areas around the airport shows,the bird abundance,richness and community diversity index of Bailang Oasis Wetland Park and Iris Lake were higher.The functional richness of Bailang Oasis Wetland Park and Iris Lake was higher,and the functional evenness and functional divergence of War Wolf Expansion Base and the southern part of the airport were higher.The area of the sample area was an important factor to predict the abundance of birds around Weifang Airport,and the shape index and building area of the sample area have no significant impact on the bird abundance.The area of water bodies in the sample area was significantly positively correlated with the abundance of birds,Shannon-Wiener index and Simpson index.(6)Based on a comprehensive analysis of 7 bird strike risk factors,birds in the airport flight area and the surrounding area of the airport are classified into 4 risk levels based on their risk values.Among the 39 bird species in the airport flight area,there were 5 species in the extremely dangerous level,namely Eurasian Tree Sparrow(Passer montanus),Common Magpie(Pica pica),Common Pheasant(Phasianus colchicus),White-cheeked Starling(Spodiopsar cineraceus)and Hill Pigeon(Columba rupestris),2 species of birds in the dangerous level,10 species of birds in the more dangerous level and 22 species of general dangerous species.Among the 67 species of birds in the area around the airport,there are 5 species of birds in the extremely dangerous level,namely Eurasian Tree Sparrow,Bean Goose(Anser fabalis),Great Cormorant(Phalacrocorax carb),Common Magpie,and Black-tailed Gull(Larus crassirostris),10 species of birds in the dangerous level,20 species of birds in the more dangerous level and 32 species of general dangerous species.Based on the analysis of bird community distribution patterns and bird strike risk assessment of birds in the flight area and around Weifang Airport,this study proposed corresponding bird strike prevention suggestions according to the characteristics of birds in different seasons,different habitats and different areas.