Foraging strategies involved in habitat use of shorebirds at the intertidal area of Chongming Dongtan, China |
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Authors: | Kai Jing Zhijun Ma Bo Li Jinhua Li Jiakuan Chen |
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Institution: | (1) Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China;(2) School of Life Sciences, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, 650092, People’s Republic of China;(3) School of Life Sciences, Anhui University, Hefei, 230039, People’s Republic of China |
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Abstract: | Dense flocks of migratory shorebirds from diverse species often concentrate in the intertidal areas for stopover. Trophic
structure, food partition, prey availability and selectivity, predation risk, and abiotic factors are often used to explain
the differences in habitat use of coexisting shorebirds. We sampled the macrobenthos and surveyed the distribution of shorebird
populations to study the effects of foraging strategies on the habitat use of shorebirds at Chongming Dongtan, an important
stopover site for shorebirds on the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. Results show that the relative abundance of epifaunal
macrobenthos in salt marshes was much higher than that in the bare flats, whereas the relative abundance of infaunal macrobenthos
in salt marshes was much lower than that in bare flats. The relative abundance of two life forms of macrobenthos was similar
in the transitional zones between the salt marshes and the bare flats. Shorebirds with different foraging strategies exhibited
different habitat uses. Pause-travel shorebirds mainly utilized the salt-marsh fringes, while tactile continuous shorebirds
relied heavily on the bare flats. There was no significant difference in habitat use for visual continuous shorebirds. The
density of tactile continuous shorebirds was positively correlated with bivalve density, and that of visual continuous shorebirds
positively with crustacean density. Meanwhile, the relative abundance of pause-travel foraging shorebirds was positively correlated
with the relative abundance of epifaunal, but negatively with infaunal macrobenthos. In contrast, the relative abundance of
tactile foraging shorebirds had a positive correlation with infaunal but a negative one with epifaunal life form. Therefore,
foraging strategies may play important roles in shorebirds’ habitat use in intertidal areas. |
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Keywords: | East Asian– Australasian Flyway Foraging strategy Habitat use Mudflat Stopover Yangtze River estuary |
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