Are artificial wetlands good alternatives to natural wetlands for waterbirds? A case study on Chongming Island, China
Are artificial wetlands good alternatives to natural wetlands for waterbirds? A case study on Chongming Island, China
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DOI：
10.1023/b:bioc.0000006502.96131.59
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发表时间：
2004-02-01
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Chen, JK
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ma, ZJ;Li, B;Chen, JK
自然湿地的丧失是一个全球性的现象，对野生动物构成了严重的威胁。通常的做法是建造人工湿地来补偿自然湿地的损失。为了测试人工湿地作为水鸟栖息地是否是天然湿地的良好替代品，我们比较了中国崇明岛天然湿地（这里是滩涂）和人工湿地（这里是养殖池塘）水鸟群落的物种丰富度、丰度和季节动态。结果表明，水鸟的生境选择具有季节性差异，春季以滩涂为主，冬季以养殖池塘为主。在春季和秋季，水鸟对滩涂的偏好高于养殖池塘，而在夏季和冬季，水鸟对滩涂和养殖池塘均无偏好。结果表明，崇明岛自然湿地比人工湿地更适合水鸟栖息，人工湿地也是冬季水鸟的适宜栖息地。只有当天然湿地不可用或质量差时，水鸟才可能使用人工湿地。过分强调人工湿地是适合水鸟栖息的地方，可能会鼓励土地管理者把天然湿地改造成人工湿地，导致鸟类多样性的大量丧失。因此，以鸟类保育为目的，保育天然湿地比破坏天然湿地后再兴建人工湿地为佳。
Loss of natural wetlands is a global phenomenon that has been a serious threat to the wildlife. A common practice is to construct artificial wetlands to compensate for the loss of natural wetlands. To test whether artificial wetlands as habitats for waterbirds are good alternatives to natural wetlands, we compared species richness, abundance, and seasonal dynamics of waterbird communities of natural ( here tidelands) and artificial wetlands ( here aquacultural ponds) on Chongming Island, China. Our results indicate that habitat preference of waterbirds showed seasonal difference: most of the shorebirds were found on tidelands in spring, whereas most of the natatorial birds were recorded in aquacultural ponds in winter. Waterbirds preferred the tidelands rather than aquacultural ponds in both spring and autumn, whereas they showed no preference for either the tidelands or the ponds in summer and winter. It is concluded that natural wetlands are better habitats for waterbirds than artificial wetlands on Chongming Island, while the artificial ones are also suitable habitats for waterbirds in winter. The waterbirds might use artificial wetlands only when natural wetlands are unavailable or of poor quality. An over- emphasis that artificial wetlands are suitable habitats for waterbirds might encourage land managers to convert natural wetlands into the artificial ones, resulting in considerable loss of bird diversity. Therefore, for the purpose of bird conservation, it would be a better practice to conserve natural wetlands rather than to construct artificial ones after destruction of natural wetlands.