Winter bird use of seed-rich habitats in agri-environment schemes

To assess the effectiveness of over-winter seed provision by agri-environment schemes, bird use of patches of seed-bearing crops was compared with that of other seed-rich habitats on 53 farms in eastern Scotland over three winters. Seed-bearing crops were the most frequently selected habitat, and held 28% of birds of the 10 species recorded. Outside schemes, cereal stubble was the most selected habitat and held 44% of birds. For nine species, seed-bearing crops were used by more birds than expected from the area of crop available in at least one winter, and five species were more likely to occur in first-winter patches, reflecting a greater abundance of cereal grain than in second-winter patches. For cereal grain specialists such as buntings, sowing cereal-based crops annually would ensure that grain is available in each winter, whilst either a 1-year or a 2-year crop would be appropriate for finches that favour oilseeds, and species with a more generalist diet.     

Pair territoriality of wintering stonechats : behaviour,function and hormones

Migratory stonechats (Saxicola torquata) spend the winter in the northern Negev desert in Israel. After arrival in October most birds defend territories throughout the winter either as heterosexual pairs or as single birds. In this population we examined: (1) aggressive behaviour of pairs; (2) the functional significance of pair territoriality; and (3) hormonal correlates of territorial behaviour. Pairs were aggressive towards both conspecific intruders and stonechat dummies, particularly in autumn when territories were established. Males were more aggressive than females and aggression was primarily intrasexual. More frequent than intraspecific interactions were interspecific encounters, with 94% involving the local mourning wheatear (Oenanthe lugens). With one exception these encounters consisted of attacks of mourning wheatears against stonechats, mainly males. Two functions of winter territoriality of migrant pairs are proposed: (a) a reduction of individual defense costs associated with the maintenance of a territory; (b) an increase of the net vigilance to reduce the risk of attacks by competitors or predators. The levels of testosterone (males and females) and estradiol (females only) were close to or below the lower detection limit of the assay throughout the winter. Therefore, high levels of gonadal steroids are not required for pair formation and aggression in the non-reproductive context. The results indicate that both the function and the proximate control mechanisms of territoriality during the non-breeding season in winter are different from those during the breeding season in spring.     

繁殖期白头鹤觅食地活动的时间分配和日节律

2004年4~6月在黑龙江大沾河湿地自然保护区内,采用野外直接观察法对野生白头鹤在觅食地的活动节律进行了研究.结果表明:①繁殖期白头鹤在觅食地各种行为活动有一定的时间分配规律.在繁殖前期,雌、雄白头鹤全天(5:30~18:00)成对在觅食地活动,雄性个体以取食、警戒、游走、保养和求偶为主要行为,雌性个体以取食、警戒、游走和保养为主要行为;到繁殖后期,雌、雄白头鹤每天有两个时间段单独在觅食地活动(4:00~6:00和17:00~19:00),无论雌雄个体,均无求偶行为.②白头鹤雌、雄个体间保养行为差异极显著(P<0.001),警戒和求偶行为差异显著(P<0.05),取食、游走行为具有一定的差异.③在麦田和池塘2种微地貌之间,白头鹤的取食、求偶行为具极显著差异(P<0.001),警戒行为具显著差异(P<0.05).④在繁殖期的不同阶段以及不同的天气情况下白头鹤的各种行为均具有一定差异.图1表2参15     

The value of agricultural wetlands as invertebrate resources for wintering shorebirds

Agricultural landscapes have received little recognition for the food resources they provide to wintering waterbirds. In the Willamette Valley of Oregon, modest yet significant populations of wintering shorebirds (Charadriiformes) regularly use hundreds of dispersed wetlands on agricultural lands. Benthic invertebrates are a critical resource for the survival of overwintering shorebirds, yet the abundance of invertebrate resources in agricultural wetlands such as these has not been quantified. To evaluate the importance of agricultural wetlands to a population of wintering shorebirds, the density, biomass, and general community composition of invertebrates available to birds were quantified at a sample of Willamette Valley sites during a wet (1999–2000) and a dry winter (2000–2001). Invertebrate densities ranged among wetlands from 173 to 1925 (mean ± S.E.: 936 ± 106) individuals/m² in the wet winter, and from 214 to 3484 (1028 ± 155) individuals/m² in the dry winter. Total invertebrate estimated biomass among wetlands ranged from 35 to 652 (mean ± S.E.: 364 ± 35) mg/m² in the wet winter, and from 85 to 1405 (437 ± 62) mg/m² in the dry winter. These estimates for food abundance were comparable to that observed in some other important freshwater wintering regions in North America.     

Examining Landscape Dynamics at a Watershed Scale Using Landsat TM Imagery for Detection of Wintering Hooded Crane Decline in Yashiro,Japan

It is usually inappropriate to define rectangular land areas or administrative units as the extent for quantifying landscapes that possess hierarchical structure. As a functional unit established by geophysical relationships, the watershed is one of many natural scales in the hierarchical landscape. We examined the dynamics of the Yashiro watershed of Japan at the landscape level using pattern metrics based on Landsat thematic mapper (TM) imagery from 1985 to 1998. This watershed provides important habitats for the hooded crane (Grus monachus), a vulnerable species. While its world population has remained stable, the number wintering at Yashiro has declined in recent years. Changes in landscape metrics reveal that the spatial pattern within the watershed underwent homogenization due to depopulation of local people and shifts in local energy requirements and forest management policy at Yashiro. Specific changes include: a decrease in bare land area from 6.2% to 1.0% of the landscape, increased forest cover from 69.2% to 76.1%, reduction in patch number from 1194 to 616 and enlarged mean patch size, and a decrease in total edge from 223,740 m to 158,040 m. The rate of change in landscape metrics indicates a rapid change towards homogeneity in the landscape since 1990. The temporal changes in hooded crane populations corresponded to the changes in landscape. An alternative explanation has been proposed that decline of the species is influenced by landscape dynamics affecting both habitat selection and food resources. Conservation at the watershed scale is suggested to be complementary to the current conservation measures of the species.