Assessing site-safeguard effectiveness and habitat preferences of Bar-headed Geese (Anser indicus) at their stopover sites within the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau using GPS/ GSM telemetry

Background:The Bar-headed Goose(Anser indicus)breeds across the high plains and plateau of Central Asia and winters in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP),the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the Indian sub-continent.Of the two recognized discrete flyways of the Bar-headed Goose,the Eastern Tibetan Flyway(ETF)is the larger,comprising at least six migration routes.However,we remain ignorant about their migratory connectivity,habitat use and effectiveness of site-safeguard mechanisms set in place for the species.Methods:We tracked 30 ETF Bar-headed Geese from Chinese and Mongolian breeding areas to their wintering grounds using GPS/GSM transmitters,to determine their migration routes and stopover staging patterns within the QTP,overlaying these upon GIS layers of protected area status and habitat type,to model their habitat selection.Results:In total,14 tagged Bar-headed Geese provided information on their entire autumn migration and 4 geese on their entire spring migration.Qinghai Lake marked birds overwintered in the QTP(n=2),geese tagged in Mongolia wintered either in the QTP(n=3)or in India/Bangladesh(n=9),representing three of the migration routes within the ETF.In total,tagged birds staged at 79 different stopover sites within QTP in autumn and 23 in spring,of which 65%(autumn)and 59%(spring)of all fixes fell within the boundaries of either National Nature Reserves(NNRs)or Important Birds Areas(IBAs)in the QTP.Bar-headed Geese predominantly occurred on four land-cover types:grassland(mostly by day),water bodies(at night),wetlands and bare substrates(salt flats,dry lake/river substrates and plough)with little change in proportion.Generalized linear mixed models comparing presence with pseudo-absence data suggested geese strongly selected for wetlands as staging habitat,avoiding bare substrates in spring.Conclusions:Based on our limited observations of these tagged geese,this study is the first to show that the current designated National Nature Reserves in place in the staging areas within the QTP appear adequate to protect this increasing population.In addition,Hala Lake in Qinghai Province and adjacent areas used as initial QTP staging during autumn migration(currently outside of designated as NNRs/IBAs)are recommended for protection,based on their use by tagged birds from this study.Habitat modelling confirmed the importance of natural wetlands as feeding areas and safe areas of open water as roosting places.

Migration routes,behavior and protection status of Eurasian Spoonbills(Platalea leucorodia)wintering in China

Background:The Eurasian Spoonbill(Platalea leucorodia)occurs throughout Eurasia and North and sub-Saharan Africa,with three recognized subspecies and six geographically distributed populations.However,in China,we knew almost nothing about migration routes,habitat use and effectiveness of current site protection measures for this species.Methods:We deployed Global Positioning System/Global System for Mobile Communications(GPS/GSM)satellite trackers on 29 Eurasian Spoonbills captured in summer in Mongolia and northeastern China,to obtain complete migration routes data from 10 individuals from 19 complete migration episodes.Results:Tracking data showed no geographical overlap during the annual cycle in Eurasian Spoonbills marked in the two main summering areas.Birds marked in the Naoli River Basin in Heilongjiang Province,China,wintered along the Jiangsu coastline in China,while Eurasian Spoonbills from two discrete summering areas(in Inner and western Mon-golia)overwintered inland in the Yangtze River floodplain of China.Excluding the single Inner Mongolian bird,spring migration was significantly faster than autumn migration in the other two groups of birds.Eurasian Spoonbills mainly used water,wetland and grassland habitats in summer,but almost exclusively water in winter.Lack of protection of staging sites used by all the birds in spring and poor levels of protection throughout the annual cycle for western Mongolian birds(5-22%)gives considerable cause for concern,although sites used in other time by East Mongolian and Naoli River birds in the rest of their annual life cycle enjoyed good levels of protection(49-95%).Conclusions:These results revealed previously unknown relationships between summering and wintering areas,migration routes and stopover sites for Eurasian Spoonbills wintering in China,suggesting the existence of discrete biogeographical population units.They also identified winter habitat use of Eurasian Spoonbills in China,confirming open water habitats as being critical throughout the annual cycle,although based on small sample size,gaps in cur-rent site safeguard networks for these populations.

Organising a juvenile ratio monitoring programme for 10 key waterbird species in the Yangtze River floodplain:analysis and proposals

Background:In the face of continued degradation and loss of wetlands in the Yangtze River floodplain(YRF),there is an urgent need to monitor the abundance and distribution of wintering waterbirds.To understand fully observed annual changes,we need to monitor demographic rates to understand factors affecting global population size.Annual reproduction success contributes to dynamic changes in population size and age structure,so an assessment of the juvenile ratio(i.e.first winter birds as a proportion of total number aged)of overwintering waterbirds can be an important indicator of the reproductive success in the preceding breeding season.Methods:During 2016-2019,we sampled juvenile ratios among 10 key waterbird species from the wetlands in the YRF.Based on these data,we here attempt to establish a simple,efficient,focused and reliable juvenile ratio monitoring scheme,to assess consistently and accurately relative annual breeding success and its contribution to the age structure among these waterbird species.Results:We compared juvenile ratio data collected throughout the winter and found that the optimal time for undertaking these samples was in the early stages of arrival for migratory waterbirds reaching their wintering area(early to mid-December).We recommend counting consistently at key points(i.e.those where>1%biogeographical flyway population were counted)at sites of major flyway importance(Poyang Lake,East Dongting Lake,Shengjin Lake,Caizi Lake,Longgan Lake and Chen Lake).Based on this,the error rate of the programme(155 planned points,the count of 10 waterbird species is 826-8955)is less than 5%.Conclusions:We established a juvenile ratio monitoring programme for 10 key waterbird species in the wetlands of the YRF,and discuss the feasibility and necessity of implementing such a future programme,and how to use these data in our monitoring and understanding of the population dynamics of these waterbird populations.

Seasonal and regional differences in migration patterns and conservation status of Swan Geese(Anser cygnoides)in the East Asian Flyway

Background:The Swan Goose(Anser cygnoides)breeds across Mongolia and adjacent China and Russia and winters exclusively in China.It is globally threatened,showing long-term major range contractions and declining abundance,linked to habitat loss and degradation.We remain ignorant about the biogeographical subpopulation structure of the species and potential differences in their migration timing,stopovers and schedules,information that could be vital to effective conservation of different elements of the species population,which we address here with results from a telemetry study.Methods:In 2017-2018,we attached GPS/GSM telemetry devices to 238 Swan Geese on moulting sites in three discrete parts of their summering area(Dauria International Protected Area,Central Mongolia and Western Mongolia),generating 104 complete spring and autumn migration episodes to compare migration speed and nature between birds of different summer provenances.Results:Birds from all three breeding areas used almost completely separate migration routes to winter sympatrically in the Yangtze River floodplain.Although many features of the spring and autumn migrations of the three groups were similar,despite the significantly longer migration routes taken by Western Mongolian tagged birds,birds from Dauria Region arrived significantly later in winter due to prolonged staging in coastal areas and took longer to reach their breeding areas in spring.Among birds of all breeding provenances,spring migration was approximately twice as fast as autumn migration.Areas used by staging Swan Geese(mainly wetlands)in autumn and spring almost never fell within national level protected areas,suggesting major site safeguard is necessary to protect these critical areas.Conclusions:This study showed the discreteness of migration routes taken by birds of different summer provenances and differences in their migratory patterns,highlighting key staging areas(Yalu River Estuary in China/North Korea for Dauria Region breeding birds,Daihai Lake for Central Mongolian and Ordos Basin for Western Mongolian birds).Based on this new knowledge of the biogeographical subpopulation structure of the Swan Goose,we need to combine data on subpopulation size,their distribution throughout the annual life cycle and conservation status,to develop more effective conservation strategies and measures to reverse population decline throughout the range.

Annual migratory patterns of Far East Greylag Geese(Anser anser rubrirostris)revealed by GPS tracking

Twenty Far East Greylag Geese,Anser anser rubrirostris,were captured and fitted with Global Positioning System/Global System for Mobile Communications(GPS/GSM)loggers to identify breeding and wintering areas,migration routes and stopover sites.Telemetry data for the first time showed linkages between their Yangtze River wintering areas,stopover sites in northeastern China,and breeding/molting grounds in eastern Mongolia and northeast China.10 of the 20 tagged individuals provided sufficient data.They stopped on migration at the Yellow River Estuary,Beidagang Reservoir and Xar Moron River,confirming these areas as being important stopover sites for this population.The median spring migration duration was 33.7 days(individuals started migrating between 25 February and 16 March and completed migrating from 1 to 9 April)compared to 52.7 days in autumn(26 September-13 October until 4 November-11 December).The median stopover duration was 31.1 and 51.3 days and the median speed of travel was 62.6 and 47.9 km/day for spring and autumn migration,respectively.The significant differences between spring and autumn migration on the migration duration,the stopover duration and the migration speed confirmed that tagged adult Greylag Geese traveled faster in spring than autumn,supporting the hypothesis that they should be more time-limited during spring migration.