Declining water depth delayed the breeding time of Fulica atra, not human disturbance.

ABSTRACT: Disturbances by tourists have been considered to delay the breeding time of coots. In this study, we investigated the common coot (Fulica atra) from April to June in 2008, 2009 and 2012 around the Anbanghe Nature Reserve and Daqing Longfeng wetland of Heilongjiang Province. We evaluated the correlations of four habitat factors (water depth under coots' nests, distance of nests to banks, distance of nests to human disturbance and nest coverage) to discuss the impacts of those factors on the breeding time of the coots. The water depth under the nest was significantly correlated with the coots' breeding stages in the Anbanghe wetland. In addition, we investigated the breeding dates of 56 pairs of coots and found the dates were significantly negatively correlated with the water levels under th

SUBMITTER: Zhang W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6114854 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature