Abstract
White-naped crane (Grus vipio) is a globally threatened species. It is very important to analyze its nest site selection in circumstances where there are multiple disturbances, and also helpful to accumulate valuable information about this threatened species and supply scientific suggestions for conservation and management. We studied nest site selection and the effects of environmental variables on nesting habits of white-naped crane at Zhalong National Nature Reserve, Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang, China, during March-May of 2002–2008. White-naped crane responded and adapted to changes in the quality of the spatial environments of landscape and microhabitat under multiple environmental disturbances. Nest site selection included two scales and two choices, namely the choice of nest site habitat type within the macro-habitat scale and nest site micro-habitat selection within the micro-habitat scale. Nest sites were recorded only in reed marshes. The choice of nest site micro-habitat included three basic elements and six factors, namely incubation element (nest parameters factor, incubation temperature factor and incubation humidity factor), safety element (protection factor and concealment factor), and food element (water factor). Water, remnant reed clusters, and fire were major resource management challenges during the breeding period for the white-naped crane in this Reserve.
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Project funding: The project was financially supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2572014CA05 and DL12EA04), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31401978 and 31070345), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2011M500631), and Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Foundation (No. 520-415268).
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Wu, Qm., Zou, Hf. & Ma, Jz. Nest site selection of white-naped crane (Grus vipio) at Zhalong National Nature Reserve, Heilongjiang, China. Journal of Forestry Research 25, 947–952 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-014-0541-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-014-0541-3