Influence of land use change on the waterbird community of Sihwa Lake, Republic of Korea
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Avian Research Open Access
RESEARCH
Influence of land use change on the waterbird community of Sihwa Lake, Republic of Korea Eunjae Lee1†, Junghee Sagong2† and Yohan Lee3*
Abstract Background: Land use and development alter mudflat and wetland habitat availability, although mudflats and wetlands provide important stopover habitats for shorebirds during the spring and autumn migrations and support communities of ducks and geese during the winter months in the Republic of Korea. This study investigated land use changes around Sihwa Lake (Republic of Korea) and evaluated the effect of these changes on waterbird community characteristics. Methods: We conducted a land-use-change analysis at the medium-resolution level using land cover maps for 2001, 2007, 2009, and 2014. Also, a tidal stream survey was conducted in Sihwa Lake and the surrounding reclaimed mudflats every season for 10 years (2003–2012) to identify the seasonal and interannual variations in waterbird species composition. To determine the total annual waterbird species and population counts, species diversity index, and interspecies variations, a TRIM (trends and indices for monitoring data) analysis was used. Results: Wetland area decreased more than 10% while agricultural land, barren land, and grassland area increased more than 10% due to continuous reclamation activities around Sihwa Lake. Barren land later turned into agricultural land or other land use. Sixty-three species and 566,623 individuals were recorded. The number of species, population size, and species diversity index by year and by species showed decreasing trends that were more marked in spring and summer. Furthermore, seasonal and annual variations in waterbird species composition showed decreasing trends in dabbling ducks, herons, grebes, and shorebirds but diving ducks displayed increasing trends. In particular, shorebirds were reduced to a greater extent than other waterbird species because of the reduction and simplification of the intertidal zone, and shallow waters caused by reclamation and road construction. Conclusions: Increased development and construction around Sihwa Lake has altered migratory shorebird populations with a general decline in species diversity and population size. The greatest decline was observed in wading birds, while diving duck populations showed increasing trends. Keywords: Land use development, Migratory bird populations, Population trends, Waterbird population size
*Correspondence: [email protected] † Eunjae Lee and Junghee Sagong contributed equally to this manuscript 3 Department of Forest Resources and Landscape Architecture, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, Republic of Korea Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
Background Mudflats along the west coast of the Republic of Korea (ROK) are used by a wide variety of wildlife because the large tidal ranges in this region create an extensive area of intertidal habitat. In particular, mudflats are an important habitat for shorebirds that stopover in the ROK during sp
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