• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.285-291
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• 2018

The impact of climate change on animals has been globally documented. Especially, migration of birds has been extensively monitored as migratory birds are susceptible to any changes occurring both on breeding grounds and on wintering grounds. However, in contrast to spring migration, the patterns and the factors for autumn migration have not been well documented. In this study, we investigated the relationship with climate condition and the first arrival dates (FADs) of bean geese (Anser fabalis) and white-fronted geese (A. albifrons), the representative group of wintering birds in South Korea, using the data collected by Korean Meteorological Association during 1995-2016. Average temperature of September in wintering grounds has increased, and the FADs of the geese have advanced over the 22 years. Even when the influence of autumn temperature was statistically controlled for, the FADs of the geese have significantly advanced. This suggests that warming has hastened the completion of breeding, which speeded up the arrival of the geese at the wintering grounds. In order to assess the effect of climate condition on the arrival of the wintering migratory birds such as the geese in more detail, extensive data collection over many sampling sites and with long-term monitoring is needed.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.681-692
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• 2015

It is well documented that physiological and nutritional condition of wintering birds is strongly related to migration success to breeding sites, and also breeding success. However, how abiotic factors during winter affect the migration and breeding successes still remains unclear. Thus, this study developed a dynamic-state-dependent model for wintering life-history to identify the potential impact on the life-history, success to breeding site and breeding success of wintering birds, which are related to temperature fluctuation, interspecific competition and human disturbance at the wintering sites. To find the best-fit-model, we referred to the existing research data on wintering ecology of Red-crowned cranes (Grus japonensis) in Cheolwon, Korea, which is well documented as a long-term wintering study. Our model predicted that the higher temperature fluctuation and a higher rate of human disturbance are negatively related to migration success to breeding sites and their fitness, ultimately breeding success via changing of proportion in resource allocation (for e. g., lower energy compensation or higher level of stress accumulation). Particularly, the rate of body mass compensation after arrival at wintering sites may be accelerated when there are less temperature fluctuations and a lower rate of human disturbance. In addition, the rate of interspecific competition sharing the wintering foraging sites is negatively related to the rate of body mass compensation. Consequently, we discussed the conservation strategies of wintering birds based on the outcomes of the model.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.311-316
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• 2010

We estimated the nitrogen and phosphorus loads of wintering waterfowl feces in Lake Paldang. The average number of individual birds that belonged to Anatidae species was 2,852.5 from 2005 to 2008 in Lake Paldang. The number of Anatidae reached 97.4% of the total number of individual birds. For evaluating the loading amounts of N and P by waterfowl to Lake Paldang, the feces dry weight (g/day) of each Anatidae species was estimated by multiplying the body weight of the each bird by 2.25% and assumed that N and P in feces contain 1.46% and 0.33%, respectively. We assigned probability 1/3 to the nutrient decomposition of the bird feces in water. The nitrogen loading by wintering waterfowl feces was 0.06 ton/year and the phosphorus loading was 0.001 ton/year. These amounts were 0.0002% of all N loadings and 0.0001% of all P loadings. Therefore the wintering waterfowl might have little impact on the water quality in terms of eutrophication in Lake Paldang.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.62-70
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• 2009

The study was conducted from Jan. 11 to Jan. 12 2008 on 17 areas which were the wintering area of Aegypius monachus and where the birds were observed. In the study, a total of 1,912 individuals were observed to winter in the areas, which was larger than any previous observation. The study found that 1,500 individuals wintered in the central region of Korea including Gyeonggido and Kangwondo, which accounted for 78.45%, and 412 individuals (21.55%) in the southern region such as Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Jeannam and Jejudo (Island). Given the number of individuals wintering by region, Jangdan Peninsula (777 individuals), Cheorwon (488 individuals) and Sancheonggun(193 individuals) were mostly found. In comparison with the previous studies, 20-30% of the individuals have moved south since 2006. This movement might be attributed to the suspension of feeding campaigns, but the birds still crowded some specific areas.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.294-303
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• 2013

BACKGROUND: It is well known that rice-fields can provide excellent foraging places for birds including seasonal migrants, wintering, and breeding and hence the high biodiversity of rice-fields may be expected. However, how environmental change including climate-changes on life-history and population dynamics in birds on rice-fields has not been fully understood. In order to investigate how climate-change affects population migratory patterns and migration timing, I modeled a population dynamics of birds in rice-fields over a whole year. METHODS AND RESULTS: I applied the Lotka-Volterra equation to model the population dynamics of birds that have been foraging/visiting rice-fields in Korea. The simple model involves the number of interspecific individuals and temperature, and the model parameters are periodic in time as the biological activities related to the migration, wintering and reproduction are seasonal. As results, firstly there was a positive relationship between the variation of seasonal population sizes and temperature change. Secondly, the reduced lengths of season were negatively related to the population size. Overall, the effects of the difference of lengths of season on seasonal population dynamics were higher than the effects of seasonal temperature change. CONCLUSION(S): Climate change can alter population dynamics of birds in rice-fields and hence the variation may affect the fitness, such as reproduction, survival and migration. The unstable balances of population dynamics in birds using paddy rice field as affected by climate change can reduce the population growth and species diversity in rice fields. The results suggest that the agricultural production is partly affected by the unstable balance of population in birds using rice-fields.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.195-206
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• 2022

Gaining an understanding of bird communities in different habitat types is essential for the conservation of ecologically important habitats. Wetlands possess different types of habitats and provide an important environment for wintering waterbird communities. This study compares avian communities in five different habitat types in the Moeyungyi Wetland Wildlife Sanctuary (MWWS), Myanmar. From December 2014 to the first week of February in 2015, bird and habitat data were collected from representative areas of five habitat types (i.e., short grassland, tall grassland, lotus fields, open water areas, and rice fields) at MWWS. We established nine sampling plots in each habitat type, and used the point quadrat method to survey habitats and the point count method to survey birds in the habitats. Simple one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc tests were used to determine differences between bird communities. We made 95 detections during 19 daily visits to each of the five habitat types. During the survey period, we recorded a total of 10,389 individuals belonging to 52 different bird species, based on 7-min observations at each of the 45 point count stations. Furthermore, we detected significant differences by habitat structure (i.e., vegetation coverage, height, and density; water depth; and plant species diversity) as well as bird communities (i.e., species richness, abundance, and diversity indices). In addition, the detailed analysis of 52 avian species revealed significant differences among 45 species with respect to the mean numbers of observed individuals in the survey habitats. The findings of this study revealed significant differences in the structure and composition of waterbird communities among the five assessed habitat types. Because natural marshes provide preferable habitats for a larger number and greater diversity of birds, relative to rice fields, natural marshes should be prioritized for conservation and restoration in Moeyungyi Wetland Wildlife Sanctuary.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.409-422
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• 2017

In order to understand the environmental factors affecting the waterbird community in winter, we divided the watershed into 6 sections and investigated the size of the stream, the water quality, benthic invertebrates, and fish including birds. The influences on the community of water birds in Wonju stream were river structure, temperature and water quality. Among the structure of the river, the factors affecting the waterbird community in winter were the width of the stream and the width of the flowing water. The wider the width, the more species and the number of the winter waterbirds were. As the width of river water was wide, the smaller the width and width of the waterway, the fewer the population. The temperature changes of the wintering season affected the community of water birds because it led to freezing of rivers. The sections that were not frozen showed a significant increase and decrease in the temperature drop and rise. The values of pH, water temperature, COD, BOD, TN, TP and total E. coli increased with the increase of the downstream waterbirds population in the water quality survey. The water quality of S6 was affected by the downstream sewage treatment plant The number of wintering waterbirds was also highest. The effluent from the sewage treatment plant seems to have a considerable influence on the water quality. The increase of several items such as TN promotes the nutrition of the river, which leads to the accumulation of organic matter and the proliferation of aquatic organisms. This may be the cause of the increase in winter waterbirds as a food source. The benthic macroinvertebrate communities and fish communities did not show any correlation with the wintering water-birds communities.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.151-165
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• 2015

This study surveys and analyzes the ecology of Gangseo area to be developed near Nakdonggang River and West Nakdonggang River in Busan - before its development. With the result of the surveys as its basis, the study also finds ways to conserve the area's bird habitats in response to the planned development. According to the site surveys over four seasons, West Nakdonggang River which is near the targeted development area is a wintering ground for migratory birds. Some representative bird types in this area are ducks, geese, and other water birds. There are even six legally protected species. The average altitude of their flight is calculated to be $92.4{\pm}18.8m$ and the main purpose for the migration is determined to be for food. According to evalution of the conservation value of the area, Nakdonggang River and West Nakdonggang River turns out to have the highest conservation value. Other areas are developable as long as it was environmentally friendly. Therefore, this study suggests incorporation of ecological parks and biotopes within the targeted development area along with the proposal for spaces in the surroundings where the wintering birds can rest and feed. Especially for the wintering birds that rest at Nakdonggang River and West Nakdonggang River, their flight direction and pattern was examined to determine that their resting ground should be located 50~100m off of the river bank. Furthermore, this study proposes ways to maximize bird habitat by building ecological corridors between the agricultural channel and other small streams in the targeted development area and the habitats in the surroundings. Lastly, the study suggests the construction of low buildings, at most 20m in height, near Nakdonggang River and West Nakdonggang River considering the birds' flight altitude and direction.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.211-216
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to examine distribution and abundance of wintering raptors in Korea during 2000-2007 which is a rare data set for covering large landscape areas. Total 6,643 raptors of 16 species were recorded at 94 different points in west, south and east coasts, and rivers of inland areas all over Korea. During the study period, the most abundant raptors were black vulture (Aegypius monachus, 62.3%), common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus, 11.0%) and common buzzard (Buteo buteo, 10.0%), and these 3 birds were dominant species in inland areas and also considered as resident species except for black vulture. Also, there was a difference among 5 different habitat types. Black vultures were most found in estuaries whereas common buzzard and common kestrel could be found in coastal areas. Presumably raptors prefer reservoirs and estuaries probably due to lower human disturbance in these areas, and management efforts should be concentrated in inland areas for black vulture and coastal areas for common kestrel and common buzzard.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.467-472
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• 2007

Eurasian black vulture (Aegypius monachus) belongs to family Accipitridae and is a raptor preying small birds and mammals. It is a wintering bird residing from the mid of November to the late of March in Korea. Although Eurasian black vulture population wintering at Korea is gradually increased, the efficient rescue and treatment for injured Eurasian black vultures are still problematic, due to lack of basic data. Therefore, in this survey, to obtain basic resources for establishing more efficient rescue system, we surveyed the number of Eurasian black vultures wintering at Gangwon province, wintering ecology and injury state of Eurasian black vulture. Survey area was Togyo reservoir at Cheorwon, Seonan basin at Yangoo and Wolsong reservoir at Chuncheon from November 2004 to March 2005. From 12 rescued Eurasian black vultures, physical examination, total plasma protein (TPP) and packed cell volume (PCV) were measured. To survey injury state of Eurasian black vultures wintering at Gangwon province, we surveyed the cause, morbidity and mortality from 103 Eurasian black vultures, based on medical records from animal rescue teams. The number of eurasian black vultures were gradually increased from November, peaked at Feburary, then steeply decreased at March. Eurasian black vultures showed the most vigorous activity around 1 PM within a day. In physical examination, mean body weight was $9.6{\pm}1.22kg$, body length was $1130{\pm}45.4mm$. No statistically significant difference in body weight and length between male and female eurasian black vultures was observed. Mean PCV was $40.2{\pm}2.7%$, while mean TPP was $5.86{\pm}0.8mg/dl$. The most common cause of injury and mortality was intoxication, while that of morbidity was fatigue.