卫星跟踪猎隼失联案例分析

Analysis of Missing Cases of Saker Falcon(Falco cherrug) by Satellite Tracking

猎隼(Falco cherrug)是迅速濒危中的物种。对近10年卫星跟踪的67只猎隼进行国籍、性别、信号时长、失联月份统计,分析其死亡原因、受威胁因素以及年返回率。就其中2016年来自俄罗斯和蒙古的10只猎隼进行更详细的死因分析,当发射器不再返回信息时,前往GPS最后位点,在一定区域内进行拉网式搜索,并分析周围的环境和动物痕迹,将找到的尸体进行解剖,查找死亡原因。结果显示,这67只猎隼中雌鸟有37只,占总数的55.2%,雄鸟有29只,另1只性别未知。其平均信号时长为(201±129.94)d(n=64),小于200 d的占60.9%,小于400 d的占92.2%。年返回率为31.4%;在秋季和初冬季(8～12月)失联的占67.2%。而2016年跟踪的10只猎隼中,获取4只失联猎隼的信息,1只在蒙古国被猎杀,1只死因不详,1只在中国因电击死亡,1只在中国因擦碰和饥饿死亡。卫星跟踪数据显示,猎隼的年返回率明显降低,表明猎隼的处境不容乐观,这引发了猛禽研究专家的担忧。

The Saker Falcon(Falco cherrug)has been rapidly becoming endangered in the world.We analyzed the gender,signal duration,and missing month of 67 Saker Falcons tracked by satellites in the past 10 years,and their causes of death,threat factors and loss rates.We performed a more detailed analysis of the causes of death of 10 sakers from Russia and Mongolia during 2016 and 2017.Backpack method was used to fit the transmitters with the weight(17 g to 22 g)less than 3%of sakers′body weight(Fig.1).When the transmitters no longer returned information,we went to the last locations of the GPS to search for the bodies of died birds in a certain area.We also investigated the animal traces and surrounding environment,and performed an autopsy to analyze the cause of death.As to the 67 sakers,37 were females(55.2%),29 were males and one was unknown.The binomial test showed that there was no difference in sex ratio(P>0.05).The average signal duration was 201±129.9 days(n=64);with 39 sakers less than 200 days(accounted for 60.9%),and 59 sakers less than 400 days(accounted for 92.2%)(Fig.2).The annual return rate was 31.4%;and 45 sakers(accounted for 67.2%)were lost during August to December(Fig.3).Of the 10 sakers being tracked in 2016,we obtained information on four lost ones,one was hunted in Mongolia,one was unclear,one died of electric shock(Fig.4)in the west of China,and one died due to collision and hunger(Fig.5)in China(Table 1).The significant low annual return rate of satellite tracking sakers indicated that the situation of Saker Falcon was not optimistic,causing concerns among the raptor research experts.