• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.37-42
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• 2024

This study used a GPS tracker to determine characteristics of wintering habitat use by black-tailed gulls on the west coast of Korea. Results of this study showed a southward movement in December and a northward movement in March. The wintering habitat was confirmed to include the southwest coastal island area (Group 1), the inland coastal area (Group 2), and China (Group 3). The wintering home range was the narrowest in October and the widest in December. Home range of Group 1 was increased from November, showing the maximum in December, decreased in February, and then tended to increase again in March. Group 2 showed the widest home range in November and a narrow range of home range from December. Home range of Group 3 showed a mixed pattern of group 1 and group 2. The flight rate was the lowest in January and the highest in March. Day and night flight rates showed significant differences by month. This study identified wintering characteristics of the West Coast population of black-tailed gulls on the West Coast, including their wintering areas, migration periods, and use patterns. These wintering characteristics of black-tailed gull in the west coast area are thought to be affected by environmental factors (such as food resources and fishing activities) and geographical characteristics of the West Coast where many islands are distributed.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.571-576
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• 1997

The playas of the Southern High Plains (SHP) of Texas, USA are an important habitat for over one million wintering waterfowl. However, the recent trend toward the modification of playas for agricultural use is threatening winter habitat of waterfowl in this region. Diurnal activity budgets of wintering mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) were conducted from 1 October to 31 March, 1983-1984, and 1984-1985) at three habitat types; steep-sided pits, terraced pits, and open lakes. All seven activity patterns (feeding, locomotion, resting, comfort, courtship, alert, and agonistic) were different (P<0.05) among the three habitat types for wintering mallards on the SHP of Texas. Terraced pits supported more feeding activity (27.8%) (P<0.001) than steep-sided pits (11.2%) or open lakes (2.6%) due to their abundance of natural seeds and aquatic invertebrates. Hens (17.5%) fed more than drakes (11.7%) (P<0.05). Locomotion (32.2%) and alert (2.8%) behavior across the three habitat types showed the highest level during the early morning (6:00-9:00 AM). Paired mallards rested more (37.9%) than unpaired mallards (25.8%) (P<0.05). Agonistic activity was highest (2.4%) in terraced pits throughout the season.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.632-639
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• 2008

This paper deals with feeding site distribution aspect and seasonal distribution change of the wintering geese in Cheonsu bay and reclaimed area from October 2006 to March 2007. Geese were distributed mostly in agricultural land(rice field) during day time. According to the distribution map by maximum counts, observed geese of agricultural land were frequently distributed in large agricultural land. Especially, Geese were more used agricultural land near the reservoir where used as roosting site than the other sites. Diurnal feeding site of the geese were agricultural land near the reservoir with huge flock during early wintering season(October), but geese were used the agricultural land far from reservoir after mid wintering season(after January). The feeding flock size of Geese were decreased and feeding site was more far from the reservoir than in mid wintering season during late wintering season(March). Habitat use rate of the quadrat area where below 1km from the reservoir was most high in early wintering season. Contrary, habitat use rate where 2km far from the reservoir was shown lowest habitat use rate in early wintering season, but it was increased during mid wintering season(January) and decreased after mid wintering season. Habitat use rate of the agricultural land where 2km below and 1 km far from reservoir was shown middle rate, but it was increased until November and decreased after November. This result shown that feeding site preference of the wintering geese was affected by distance from roosting site(reservoir), and feeding site was changed as a food sources decreasing by stay time of geese flock.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.343-352
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• 2015

The landscape setting of a habitat strongly influences the distribution, abundance, and species composition of waterfowl. Thus, habitat assessment is very important to understand the habitat characteristics that sustain waterfowl assemblages. In this study, we hypothesized that the excessive use of artificial materials when new wetlands are constructed negatively influences wintering waterfowl. To test this hypothesis, we measured environmental factors, assessed habitat, and investigated waterfowl at 13 artificial wetlands in the Nakdong River Basin. There were greater numbers of waterfowl species and individuals in artificial wetlands with high habitat assessment scores. In contrast, environmental factors did not affect waterfowl distribution. In particular, features of natural habitats, such as macrophytes and sandbars, and the surrounding land-use patterns were important factors for sustaining waterfowl assemblages in each created wetland. Our results show that promoting naturalness in wetlands and surrounding areas would increase the species diversity and abundance of waterfowl. Further, complex habitats, such as wetlands and some terrestrial habitats, support both aquatic and terrestrial species because mixed habitats feature a larger array of food sources than more limited habitats do.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.250-257
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• 2009

This study was conducted to investigate the habitat use of White-naped Cranes Grus vipio in Han river estuary during the wintering period from 2006 to 2008 (October$\sim$March). The average numbers of wintering White-naped Cranes were 106.6$\pm$21.7 (Mean$\pm$SD) individuals, and the highest number of 140 individuals were recorded in the early January, 2008. The wintering habitat use of White-naped Cranes between rice field and mudflat was not significantly different (Mann-Whitney test. p=0.40) during the wintering period. However, White-naped Cranes spent more time on the rice field in the early winter (p<0.01), and on the mudflat in the late winter(p<0.01). There was not a difference of the habitat use rate on middle winter. White-naped cranes used four different sites of rice field: Hongdopyoung, Pyoungdong, Ihwadong and Janghang rice fields. Among them, Hongdopyoung was the main foraging site. There was significant differences of habitat use ratio in the early and mid winter ((Kruskal-wallis test. p<0.01). White-naped Cranes used mudflat area from Gimpo Daegyo to Nusanri of Han river estuary. Especially, they preferred four sites from Gimpo Daegyo to Ilsan Daegyo more than the other sites. Habitat use rate of mud flats were significantly different among each site during the wintering period (Kruskal-wallis test. p<0.01)

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.99-105
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• 2019

Black-tailed gulls, Larus crassirostris, have been known as resident birds in Korea, but their wintering and breeding habitat ranges were little known about. We investigated the habitat ranges of Blacktailed gulls breeding on Dokdo Island - which is the eastern end of their breeding colonies in Korea. Three adult Black-tailed gulls were fitted with Global Positioning System data loggers in May 2018 and their positions were tracked for 9 days, 245 days and 365 days each respectively. Black-tailed gulls stayed on Dokdo Island until June for breeding purposes and moved down to the southern part of Japan for wintering. The following year, a Black-tailed gull started to move northward in February and returned to Dokdo Island in April. They traveled a total of $207,334-229,507km^2$ (MCP) throughout a whole year. Based on location density categories accounting for 50% of locations, they used 3,618 to $3,803km^2$ in area. Black-tailed gulls breeding on Dokdo Island used smaller habitat ranges during the wintering period than the other periods. This is the first report on the habitat ranges of Black-tailed gulls breeding on Dokdo Island.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.266-274
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• 2017

We surveyed the habitat use and food materials of the endangered Swan Goose (Anser cygnoides) during the wintering period at the Seocheon tidal flat. The bird wintered about six months from October 2014 to early April 2015 at the flat. They showed a remarkable change in choosing their feeding habitat and prey. They stayed entirely at sedge grass patches on Songrim tidal flat during the early wintering period (October), while after November they gradually moved to Janggu bay and used rice paddy fields as well as sedge patches on the tidal flats as their feeding site. The dietary analysis showed the sedge grass (Bolboschoenus sp., Cyperaceae) was the main dietary source during the entire wintering period. Interestingly, the proportion of Cyperaceae on feces decreased slightly over wintering time, while the proportion of Fabaceae increased relatively since November. These results suggest that the Swan Geese switched their habitat and food sources in response to the change of food availability. The Seocheon tidal flat area is the important wintering site for Swan Geese and sedge grass patches in the area need to be managed as the main feeding area for the wintering Swan Geese.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.77-80
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• 2001

We investigated the habitat use of cranes, and suggested the proper way to protect and manage the cranes in Cheolwon Basin, which is the most important wintering ground of cranes in Korea. Field surveys were conducted in the wintering seasons from Nov. 1994 to Feb. 1995, and from Nov. 1997 to Feb. 1998. The habitat loss and environmental changes by the road construction and agricultural field rearrangement might have affected the distribution of the cranes. The distribution of cranes seemed to be related with the density of rice grains remained in rice paddies.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 1997

Wintering behavior of mallards Anas platyrhynchos was studied from November 1995 to February 1996 at wintering habitats : Seosan reclaimed site, Oksan reservoir, and Kum river in Korea. The population of wintering mallards in maximum count was about 35, 000 at Sosan, 500 at Oksan and 1, 680 at Kum river, respectively. In Seosan area, mallards spent more time on water surface. In Kum river and Oksan reservoir, however, they spent more time in riversides. During the daylight hours, mallards spent more time in riversides and ground as the time passes by in the area. Behavioral patterns varied with habitat type, by days and months. Resting was a major time expenditure of mallards on water surface and riversides, and feeding occured occasionally on the ground. During the daytime, feeding and resting activities increased as time passed toward dusks However, time spendings for locmotion and comfort were decreased when it is close to the sun sets. Major disturbance factors within the habitats were identified the local traffics of humans, boats, aircrafts and motor vehicles. Among them, human was the most frequently affecting disturbance factor to the wintering mallards.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.191-197
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• 2020

The purpose of this was to examine the differences of large whopper swan (Cygnus cygnus) in wintering habitat preference among bridge sections of the lower Nakdong River of the Nakdong River Estuary, the largest whopper swan's wintering habitat in Korea. This species is designated and protected as Natural Monument in Korea. The survey was conducted in six time-series during the 2018~2019 wintering season, and it found up to 500 whopper swans were wintering in the lower Nakdong River. For the survey, a seven sections were set up based on the bridges across the river. Whopper swans were rarely observed in five narrow sections where the distance between bridges was less than 2 km. The stable population of the whopper swan was observed only in two broader sections where the distance between bridges was is over 4 km. As these sections were relatively little affected by artificial interference, the distance from the mouth of the Nakdong River was not a factor. Securing a stable space is considered as one of the most important factors for wintering of whopper swans, which are an endangered species. The survey results indicate that the distance between bridges should be at least 4 km to secure the whopper swan's stable habitat. These results are expected to be a reference to the development or restoration of the river ecosystems, especially bridge construction.