Search

The range pattern of wintering bird communities in the buffer zone of Yancheng Reserve, the largest coastal reserve, China, was investigated using 3S technologies. Differences in bird spatial distributions were also tested for spatial occupation, habitat type preference, and range overlapping ratio. The estimated average range sizes of the 16 bird species with enough sightings were 249.24 (28.17-435.25) km² of 95% fixed kernel (FK) and 131.03 (15.33-225.25) km² of minimum convex polygon (MCP). Phoenicurus auroreus and Lanius schach had the largest 95% FK and MCP range, respectively, whereas Larus ridibundus had the smallest 95% FK and MCP range. Most species utilized aquaculture and farmland areas largely, 85.97% of their core range included both habitats. The core range of any paired species overlapped 3.86-41.00 km², the average overlap ratio was 11.70% (0.58 - 21.91%). The geographic grids analyses showed that 1-3 species, 4-6 species and 7-9 species occupied 111 grids (64.9%), 47 grids (27.5%), and 13 grids (1.75%) individually, implicating low species spatial aggregation. This study suggested that differences in spatial distributions possibly contribute to the coexistence of sympatric species in Yancheng Reserve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]