Home Range and Habitat Use of Breeding Black-necked Cranes

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The Black-necked Crane is the only crane that breeds on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, and it is currently classified as a vulnerable species. Habitat destruction and loss are the main threats for the Black-necked Crane. However, the breeding needs of Black-necked Cranes with regard to their preferred habitat remain unknown. To find the driving factors of their habitat selection, we studied the utilization rate of three habitats within the home range of Black-necked Cranes during four consecutive breeding stages. Black-necked Cranes mainly utilize meadows in the whole breeding season, followed by marsh meadows and marshes. Compared with other stages, the utilization of marsh habitat slightly increased in the postfledging stage. Since this stage is a very vulnerable period for young cranes, we suggest that grazing needs to be managed during this stage, that is, from late May to early September. ABSTRACT: To effectively protect a species, understanding its habitat needs and threats across its life-history stages is necessary. The Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) is an endangered wetland bird species of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, which is an important grazing area in China. To overcome the conflict between increasing grazing activities and the protection of wild cranes, we investigated the variation of habitat utilization within the home range of cranes at different stages (preincubation, incubation, postfledging, and fully fledged stages). We manually tracked 13 pairs of cranes in the Zoige international wetland, used the fixed-kernel-polygon (FKP) method to determine home-range size, and used satellite images to identify different habitat types. The average home-range size was 143.38 ± 34.46 ha. Cranes were most often located in meadow habitats followed by marsh meadows and marshes. During the postfledging stage, home-range size was significantly decreased, with the proportion of marsh habitat slightly increased. Since this stage is crucial for young-crane survival, research on the importance of marshes and effective protection measures should be further strengthened.