Waterbird Diversity

A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737). This special issue belongs to the section "Conservation Biology and Biodiversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 885

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China
2. Key Laboratory for Vegetation Ecology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China
Interests: wetland ecology; environmental ecology; bird habitat conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Bird diversity is a crucial component of biodiversity. Due to their sensitivity to environmental changes, waterbirds have garnered significant attention. The signing of Ramsar Wetland Convention stemmed from concerns about the sensitivity of waterbirds and their habitats, leading to global wetland conservation efforts. In many countries, waterbird diversity faces substantial threats in coastal or inland environments. Global climate change, shifts in plant phenology, human reclamation, urbanization development, and various other factors are endangering waterbird diversity. Research on waterbird diversity can enhance our understanding of these species, enabling conservation measures.

The endangered waterbird species exhibit heightened sensitivity to environmental changes. Despite global conservation efforts through measures such as establishing protected areas, significant protection gaps remain for waterbirds. Enhancing the conservation of endangered waterbirds and promoting their population recovery remain critical priorities in global biodiversity protection initiatives.

This Special Issue will mainly focus on the conservation of waterbird diversity, the protection of endangered waterbird, the restoration of waterbird habitats, and policy developments in waterbird conservation.

Dr. Haibo Jiang
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • waterbird diversity
  • endangered species
  • wetlands
  • habitats
  • migration patterns
  • protection gaps
  • conservation techniques

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 10490 KB  
Article
Disentangling Seasonality from Co-Occurrence: Anomaly-Driven Networks of Migratory Waterbirds
by Chien-Hen Hung and Pei-Fen Lee
Biology 2026, 15(7), 522; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology15070522 - 25 Mar 2026
Viewed by 478
Abstract
Understanding how migratory waterbird species co-vary through time can reveal guild structure and guide monitoring in dynamic coastal wetlands, yet seasonal phenology can inflate simple co-occurrence signals. Here, we used standardized monthly bird counts from Yongan Wetland, Taiwan (36 survey months across two [...] Read more.
Understanding how migratory waterbird species co-vary through time can reveal guild structure and guide monitoring in dynamic coastal wetlands, yet seasonal phenology can inflate simple co-occurrence signals. Here, we used standardized monthly bird counts from Yongan Wetland, Taiwan (36 survey months across two survey blocks: November 2014 and January–August 2015, and October 2016–December 2018) to infer de-seasonalized interspecific associations. We analyzed 50 regularly recorded species and a focal subset of 13 shorebirds and ducks. For each species, we transformed raw counts to monthly anomalies that remove recurrent seasonal patterns, then quantified pairwise Spearman correlations and controlled multiple testing using Benjamini–Hochberg FDR (q ≤ 0.05) to construct association networks. The anomaly-based network revealed strong guild structure: positive links were concentrated within dabbling ducks and within shorebirds, consistent with shared habitat use and foraging regimes, whereas negative links were fewer and suggested potential niche partitioning or spatiotemporal segregation. Robustness analyses (moving-block bootstrap stability, a circular-shift null comparison, and log-transformed anomaly sensitivity) supported that the main network patterns were unlikely to arise from chance alignment. Our framework provides a transparent, time-series–based approach for disentangling phenology from association inference, offering a practical framework for wetland monitoring and hypothesis generation about waterbird community dynamics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waterbird Diversity)
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