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Tall trees drive the nest-site selection of wild Crested Ibis Nipponia nippon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2022

YONGJIE HUANG Open the ORCID record for YONGJIE HUANG [Opens in a new window] ,
YUANXING YE ,
YAZU ZHANG ,
ARNAUD GIAN BARRAS ,
CHAO WANG ,
BAOPING QING  and
CHANGQING DING
YONGJIE HUANG
Affiliation:
School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China.
YUANXING YE
Affiliation:
School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China.
YAZU ZHANG
Affiliation:
Shaanxi Hanzhong Crested Ibis National Nature Reserve, Shaanxi 723300, People’s Republic of China.
ARNAUD GIAN BARRAS
Affiliation:
Division of Conservation Biology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland. Swiss Ornithological Institute, 6204 Sempach, Switzerland.
CHAO WANG
Affiliation:
Shaanxi Hanzhong Crested Ibis National Nature Reserve, Shaanxi 723300, People’s Republic of China.
BAOPING QING
Affiliation:
Shaanxi Hanzhong Crested Ibis National Nature Reserve, Shaanxi 723300, People’s Republic of China.
CHANGQING DING*
Affiliation:
School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China.
*
*Author for correspondence; email: cqding@bjfu.edu.cn
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Summary

Understanding how birds select breeding sites plays an important role in habitat protection, especially for the conservation of endangered species. With the increase in population size of the endangered Crested Ibis Nipponia nippon, its distribution range has expanded from mountain areas to plains located outside protected areas, representing a new challenge for conservation of the species. Identifying the current nesting habitat requirements is thus needed and can provide valuable information for the planning of new nature reserves. In this research, we surveyed a total of 117 nests across the whole distribution range from 2015 to 2019. We used generalized linear mixed-effects models to assess nesting preferences of the Crested Ibis in the wild. Results showed that in mountain areas, Masson pines Pinus massoniana were preferred (64.6%), whereas elms Ulmus pumila (44.9%) and aspens Populus davidiana (40.6%) were used more frequently lower down, probably because of their higher availability. In both mountain areas and plains the ibises selected tall nesting trees with larger diameter at breast height and preferred nesting rather high above ground, especially in plains where taller trees provided higher suitable nesting positions. The ibises also preferred nesting close to tree trunks, especially in mountain areas, probably for more safety from collapsing. Furthermore, in mountain areas, slope and distance to path had positive effects on nesting occurrence, and understorey coverage was avoided by nesting ibises, while these variables had little impact in plains. Our results indicate that, despite their range expansion, Crested Ibises rely on very specific habitat characteristics for nesting. We suggest relatively tall trees like elms and aspens should be preserved in plains. In addition, we highlight how selection patterns of Crested Ibises may vary, and that such variation should be addressed in conservation planning, especially in future reintroduction.

Keywords

nest-site selectionCrested Ibislower plainsnesting treesrange expansion
Type
Research Article
Information
Bird Conservation International , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 486 - 497
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of BirdLife International

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