Reduced dependence of Crested Ibis on winter-flooded rice fields: implications for their conservation.

ABSTRACT: The Crested Ibis Nipponia nippon was once thought to be extinct in the wild until seven birds were discovered in a remote mountain village in China in 1981. Studies suggested that winter-flooded rice fields play an essential role in nest site selection by the Crested Ibis and hence in their survival. Considerable efforts were therefore made to conserve the winter-flooded rice fields, but these have caused conflicts between the agricultural and conservation communities. The population and geographical range of the wild Crested Ibis has expanded greatly since 1981, but there is no spatial information on the winter-flooded rice fields, nor on the current association of nest sites and winter-flooded rice fields. We mapped winter-flooded rice fields across the entire current range of Crested Ib

SUBMITTER: Sun Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4038617 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature