Monitoring Dataset on Waterbirds in Qinghai Lake Basin (2021-2022)

Li, X. Y.^1,2,3  Sun, J. Q.⁴  Chen, Y. R.^1,2,3  Chen, K. L.^1,2.,3*

1. School of Geographical Sciences, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810008, China;

2. Key Laboratory of Natural Geography and Environmental Processes, Xining 810008, China;

3. Qinghai Lake Wetland Ecosystem National Positioning Observation Station, Haibei 812200, China;

4. Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve Administration, Xining 810008, China

Abstract: The Qinghai Lake basin is located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is a gene pool of bird species in the Tibetan Plateau, as well as one of the typical areas of the plateau ecosystem. The authors conducted post-breeding monitoring of waterbirds at 26 sample sites in the basin in August 2021 and August 2022. The dataset includes: (1) location data of 26 monitoring sample sites; (2) basic information of waterbird monitoring areas; (3) late breeding monitoring data of waterbirds in Qinghai Lake basin; (4) dominant species assessment of waterbirds; (5) photos of waterbirds. The dataset is archived in .xlsx, .shp, .jpg and .docx formats, and consists of 16 data files with 19.4 MB (Compressed into 1 file with 19.3 MB).

Keywords: Qinghai Lake basin; Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; waterfowl breeding; 2021; 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3974/geodp.2023.01.13

CSTR: https://cstr.escience.org.cn/CSTR:20146.14.2023.01.13

Dataset Availability Statement:

The dataset supporting this paper was published and is accessible through the Digital Journal of Global Change Data Repository at: https://doi.org/10.3974/geodb.2023.06.04.V1 or https://cstr.escience.org.cn/CSTR:20146.11.2023.06.04.V1.

1 Introduction

Birds are the largest group of terrestrial vertebrates, which are sensitive to environmental changes and become an important indicator species of environmental pollution levels^[1]. Biodiversity monitoring is to provide information on the spatial and temporal changes of the monitored objects as the main objective, mainly reflecting the changes of biodiversity in a certain time and space scale, so biodiversity becomes one of the important indicators to assess the effectiveness of ecological conservation^[2] . The strong spatial and temporal scale dependence and multi-level nature of biodiversity determine that the analysis of biodiversity status and variables requires comprehensive and continuous monitoring at multiple spatial scales in different ecosystems, thus building a biodiversity research and monitoring network are the foundation of biodiversity conservation and research^[3] .

Qinghai Lake is located in the northeastern part of Qinghai province and the edge of the first step in China and is the largest inland saltwater lake on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in China; it is also located at the junction of the eastern monsoon region, the western arid and semi-arid region and the alpine region of Qinghai-Tibet, and its precipitation is concentrated in summer, with thin cloud cover, sufficient sunshine, strong solar radiation and large daily difference in temperature. In this case, waterfowl monitoring and observation sample sites in Qinghai Lake basin were monitored and surveyed in accordance with the spatial and geographical distribution characteristics of waterfowl in Qinghai Lake, referred to the waterfowl monitoring sample sites of Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve Management Machine with the monitoring time of August of 2021 and 2022, so as to form the waterfowl monitoring dataset for the late breeding period of 2021–2022 in Qinghai Lake basin finally.

2 Metadata of the Dataset

The metadata of the Qinghai Lake basin waterbird monitoring dataset (2021–2022)^[4] is summarized in Table 1. It includes the dataset full name, short name, authors, year of the dataset, data format, data size, data files, data publisher, and data sharing policy, etc.

Table 1  Metadata summary of Qinghai Lake basin waterbird monitoring dataset (2021-2022)

3 Data Monitoring Methods and Results

Waterbirds are groups of birds whose life histories are more or less ecologically linked to bodies of water^[6]. As a higher taxon unique to wetlands, waterbird is one of the important components of wetland ecosystems and an indicator species characterizing changes in wetland quality^{[7, 8]}. According to the distribution characteristics of waterbirds breeding and roosting in Qinghai Lake basin, the direct counting method was used to investigate the population size of birds at the waterbirds monitoring sample sites in the basin, and the types of waterbirds in the observation area were clearly identified and counted by monocular and double-pass binoculars and telephoto cameras, and photographs of birds and their habitats were taken..According to the habitat type, the monitoring area is mainly divided into: estuary wetland, swamp meadow, farmland, freshwater lake, river wetland, river manzanita, peninsula, island, etc.

Qinghai Lake is the largest inland saltwater lake in China and is a breeding and stopover site for many waterfowl along the Central Asia-India migration route^[9]. The specific monitoring sample sites are Heima River wetland, Jiangxigou, Xiaohong Lake, Erhai Lake, Daotang River wetland, Xiaobohu wetland, Naren wetland, Haergai estuary, Dalian Lake, Ganzihe wetland, Ganzihe estuary, Sha Dao, Shaliuhe estuary, Xiannvwan wetland, Quanji estuary, Wu Shi Da Lai, Ha Da Tan, Cormorant island, Buha River, Sheng River estuary, Tie Bu Jia wetland, Quanwan wetland, Ga Ri La, Egg island, Haixin Mountain and San Kuai Shi (Figure 1). Egg island monitoring has been added compared to 2021.

Figure 1  Distribution of waterbird monitoring sample sites in Qinghai Lake basin (2022)

In the late stage of water bird breeding monitoring in 2021, 46 species of birds were recorded, with a total of 40,018 birds; among them, 9,138 Phalacrocorax carbo ranked first among all birds, accounting for 22.84% of the total number of birds. The habitat type of Sha Dao is freshwater lakes, where Phalacrocorax carbo accounted for 40.32% of the total number of Phalacrocorax carbo; 8,974 Netta rufina ranked second among all birds, accounting for 22.42% of the total number of Netta rufina. The habitat type of Shaliuhe estuary is estuarine wetlands, where Netta rufina accounted for 55.72% of the total; Anser indicus, 7,627 birds, ranked third among all birds, accounting for 19.06% of the total. The habit type of Ha Da Tan is river manzanita, where Anser indicus accounted for 47.65% of the total number of Anser indicus; eight bird species containing Phalacrocorax carbo, Netta rufina, Anser indicus, Tadorna ferruginea, Aythya ferina, Larus ichthyaetus, Podiceps cristatus, and Fulica atra are all over 1,000. The habitat types are mostly estuarine wetlands, river manzanita, freshwater lakes, accounting for 90.66% of the total. Vanellus vanellus, Tringa glareola, Anas clypeata, Calidris temminckii, Tringa nebularia, Tringa guttifer, Bucephala clangula, and Nycticorax nycticorax were all found only once.

In 2022, 44 species of waterbirds were recorded in the late stage of waterbird breeding monitoring, with a total of 148,697 birds, with an increase of 108,679 compared with last year; the 44 species of waterbirds included one national-level waterbird and four national-level two waterbirds, as well as one species of vulnerable waterbirds and six species of near-threatened waterbirds. The total number of waterbirds in Naren wetland, Shaliuhe estuary, Quanwan wetland, Tie Bu Jia wetland and Buha River all exceeded 10,000; among them, 61,265 Netta rufina ranked first in waterbirds, 20,034 Tadorna ferruginea ranked second in waterbirds, and 12,664 Anser indicus ranked third in waterbirds.

Netta rufina are mostly found in swamp meadow, herbaceous swamp and estuarine wetlands such as Naren wetland, Shaliuhe estuary, Ga Ri La, Quanwan wetland, Tie Bu Jia wetland, Sheng River estuary, Buha River, etc. Tadorna ferruginea are mostly found in swamp meadow, estuarine wetlands and lakeshore peninsula, such as Xiaohong Lake, Naren wetland, Shaliuhe estuary, Quanji estuary, Tie Bu Jia wetland, Cormorant island and Buha River, etc. Anser indicus are mostly found in herbaceous swamp and estuarine wetlands such as Shaliuhe estuary, Ha Da Tan, Heima River wetland, Quanwan wetland, Sheng River estuary.

Compared with last year, a total of 11 species of waterfowl decreased, including Tringa nebularia, Egretta garzetta Linnaeus, Chlidonias leucopterus,Bubulcus ibis, Platalea leucorodia, Northern Shoveler, Nycticorax nycticorax, Bucephala clangula, Larus canus and brown-headed duck, and 10 species of waterbirds, including Anas strepera, Anas penelope, Anas crecca crecca Linnaeus, Anas acuta, Grus grus, Charadrius leschenaultii, Calidris canutus, Tringa stagnatilis, Numenius arquata and Arenaria interpres, of which the Grus grus and Arenaria interpres are class 2 waterbirds and Calidris canutus is Near-threatened species. Among the new waterfowl, the Anseriformes and Charadriiformes belong to wetland waterfowl species, and some of the cranes belong to wetland waterfowl species, and are basically wandering birds, which are adapted to swimming and diving for food in the water; most of the wandering birds have migratory behavior, and most of them breed in the north, gathering in the fall to move south to warmer waters, and then returning to the northern breeding grounds in the spring of the following year.

The distribution of birds in Qinghai Lake is closely related to the distribution of food resources, and both the wetlands around the lake and the estuary are areas where birds are concentrated^[10]. Table 2 shows the basic information of waterfowl habitat in late breeding season in 2021–2022. Table 3 shows the information of dominant species of waterfowl in 2022, and Figure 2 shows the photograph of waterfowl in field monitoring in 2022.

The dominant species was determined based on the number of individual birds as a percentage of the total number of individuals (P_i )^[11] (see Table 4 for details):

                                 (1)

where, N_i is the number of individuals of the ith species; N is the total number of individuals

Table 2  Information on late breeding habitat for waterfowl around the Qinghai Lake in 2021-2022

Table 3  New waterfowl in Qinghai Lake in 2022

of all species in the community; P_i ≥10% was designated as the dominant species; 1% ≤ P_i <10% as the common species; 0.1% ≤ P_i <1% as the rare species; and P_i <0.1% as the rare species.

As shown in the table below, there are 3 dominant species, 9 common species, 11 rare species and 22 very rare species in2021 and 2 dominant species, 8 common species, 11 rare species and 23 very rare species in 2022.

Figure 2  Field monitoring waterfowl photography in 2022 (Photographed in August 2022)

Table 4  Assessment of dominant species of waterbirds around the Qinghai Lake

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(Continued)

5 Summary

Birds are better indicator biota^[12] , and exogenous factors such as global warming, wetland loss and degradation have adversely affected waterbirds that depend on wetland ecosystems^[13]. Through waterbird monitoring, we can further study waterbird breeding in Qinghai Lake basin in depth, comprehensively grasp waterbird species, number and distribution in Qinghai Lake basin, provide data support for the national biodiversity monitoring of waterbirds by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and provide significant guidance for Qinghai Lake. It also has a significant guiding role in the ecological protection of the Qinghai Lake basin. At the same time, the observation of waterfowl breeding is also conducive to raising human awareness of the importance of biodiversity conservation, which is a condition for human survival, a strategic resource for sustainable socio-economic development, and an important guarantee for ecological security and food security^[14]. In addition, we should strengthen the protection and conservation of biodiversity in inland waters, incorporate waterfowl habitats and wetlands into the scope of protection, and improve systematic protection. This study also needs to continue the long-term monitoring of waterbirds in the basin to ensure better and more scientific data.

Author Contributions

Li, X. Y., Chen,Y. R. and Chen,K. L. did the overall design of the dataset development; Li, X. Y., Sun, J. Q. and Chen,Y. R. collected and processed all the data; Li, X. Y. wrote the data paper, etc.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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