关键词: 越冬水鸟, 群落结构, 多样性, 河口湿地, 连云港市

Abstract: Recently, coastal wetlands have been facing threats resulting from land reclamation, which is performed to alleviate land pressure and generate a series of economic benefits in response to increasing human population size and rapid urbanization. As a result, coastal wetlands are undergoing devastating exploitation on a global scale, with coastal reclamation being most prevalent in Europe and Asia. Because of their sensitivity to environmental change, waterbirds are often used as indicator species for estimating the ecological health of coastal wetlands. Lianyungang City is located on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, and is an important stopover and wintering site for waterbirds. In the winters of 2016-2018, the community structure and diversity of wintering waterbirds in the Linhong, Qingkou, Xingzhuang and Liezi estuaries were surveyed. A total of 47 waterbird species from 8 families and 12 orders were found in the four estuaries. There were 37 wintering species, 5 resident species and 5 passing migrant species, of which one was listed as a first-class protected species in China. Wintering populations of five species in a single survey exceeded 1% of their global populations. The number of species and individuals varied between years; both were highest in 2017, with the lowest species count in 2016 and the lowest individual count in 2018. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index and evenness index were highest in 2017, while the dominance index was highest in 2016. Moreover, there were no significant differences in the number of species or the diversity index between the four estuaries, but there were significant differences in density and population size (all P<0.001). There was high similarity in species composition between the four estuaries (similarity index ≥ 0.600), of which the similarity between Xingzhuang and Liezi estuaries was highest (0.714). The results show that the Lianyungang coastal wetlands are important wintering sites for waterbirds, and that the diversity of waterbirds in different estuaries was affected by reclamation, development and habitat change in their respective regional environments. It is concluded that waterbird monitoring should be increased for the ecological protection of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

Key words: wintering waterbird, community structure, diversity, estuary, Lianyungang City