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Habitat selection of overwintering common crane (Grus grus) based on individuals tracking by satellite technology.

DUAN Ya-tian1,2, LIU Qiang1,2*, LEI Yu1,2, LI Jun-dong1,2, LIU Wen3, LI Zhen-ji3, WANG Ru-bin3   

  1. (1College of Wetlands, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China; 2National Plateau Wetlands Research Center, Kunming 650224, China; 3Guizhou Caohai National Nature Reserve, Weining 553100, Guizhou, China).
  • Online:2020-07-10 Published:2021-01-09

Abstract: Understanding species habitat selection is of great significance for the protection of endangered animals and their habitats. In the winter of 2014, we investigated the daytime habitat selection of seven overwintering common cranes (Grus grus) by satellite tracking technology and a random forest model at Weining Caohai Nature Reserve in Guizhou Province. The results showed that the common crane had obvious selectivity to habitats (distances from nocturnal roosting site, woodland, grassland, marsh, open water and cropland), human disturbance (distances to residential areas, main roads, village roads), and elevation (P<0.05), but not to slope (P>0.05). The results of the random forest regression modeling showed that the distances from main road, nocturnal roosting site, residential areas and grassland had the greatest impacts on their habitat selection. Common cranes preferred areas near water source (858.86±29.39 m) and nocturnal roosting site (1914.70±59.14 m), and away from residential areas (312.87±10.28 m) during the daytime. In terms of the distance from the main road and the village road, the number of activity points of common cranes was significantly smaller than that of random points, indicating that common cranes may be forced to adapt to disturbances by road traffic when using cropland as their main feeding sites. The rapid urban/town expansion and road construction were the main factors threatening the survival of common cranes in Caohai and surrounding areas.