• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.197-206
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• 2007

This study was conducted to survey the population of water birds wintering at the seven coastal wetlands of Jeollanam province including Suncheon Bay and Yeongsan Lake, from 2000 through 2003. The 90 species and 857,570 individuals in total were sighted at the seven survey sites. We classified the wintering water birds into seventeen groups of taxa based on the similar ecological attributes, among which, eight groups were found to inhabit the water surface or riparian areas. Classified groups that showed higher rate of using bay areas than that of lake areas were in the order of waders, gulls and swans. On the other hand, the groups that showed higher rate of using lake areas than that of using bay areas were revealed in the order of dabbling ducks, grebes and geese. In conclusion, there was a difference in the pattern between the two classified groups. As a result of the UPGMA cluster analysis using CCs ($S{\varnothing}rensen'a$ index of similarity and Ro (Horn's index of community overlap), the results showed that Suncheon Bay had the most unique species formation out of the seven areas. Bay and lake areas were different from each other in the formation of species and Individuals. As a result of combining the index rank according to the maximum aggregate count, the Suncheon Bay is ranked the highest in importance of the habitats for water birds, followed by the order of Boseong-Deukryang Bay, Gangjin Bay, Gocehongam Lake, Geumho Lake, Yeomam Lake, and Yeongsan Lake. Considered overall, the importance of the bay areas was relatively higher than that of reclaimed lake areas.