Remote and local threats are associated with population change in Taiwanese migratory waterbirds
Date Issued
2024-09-13
Author(s)
Abstract
Along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, some countries have reported population trends and threats to migratory waterbirds but remain gaps of the status of waterbird populations. We used the nationwide citizen science data to examine population trends of 31 migratory waterbird species across Taiwan and three hotspots from 2014 to 2021. Island-wide, the two species declined significantly while five species increased. However, there was heterogeneity in population trends among hotspots, with nine species declining significantly in Yi-Lan, four in Chang-Hua and one in Chia-Nan. Conversely, 11 species increased significantly in Chia-Nan, one in Chang-Hua, but no species increased in Yi-Lan. The results suggest that recent rice paddy loss and tidal flat loss in the Yellow Sea have been contributing to migratory waterbird declines in Taiwan. Local land use policies and mitigation of tidal flat loss are likely to be complementary in safeguarding the migratory waterbirds.
Event(s)
The Ornithological Society of Japan 2024 Annual Meeting
Publisher
日本鳥学会
Description
Tokyo, Japan
Type
conference presentation