Wintering Avifauna and Community Changes in response to Agricultural Intensification in Cheorwon, Korea

This study was conducted to investigate changes in avifauna communities of the Civilian Control Zone (CCZ: N38^o 10'∼19', E127^o 04'∼26'), which is the near Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Cheorwon, Korea. An analysis was conducted on data that were collected 4 times a year between December and February from December 2001 to February 2011. This study documented changes in bird population affected by artificial feeding and agricultural activity. In this study, a total of 59,393 individuals (maximum number of individuals) of 101 species were observed. In descending order of dominance, dominant species were the White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons), White-naped Crane (Grus vipio), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis), Rustic Bunting (Emberiza rustica), and Cinereous Vulture (Aegypus monachus). Over the course of the study, avifauna communities did not show significant increasing or decreasing changes in community indices. However, with the exception of the White-fronted Geese, evenness decreased. Red-crowned Crane and Cinereous Vulture populations experienced significant fluctuations, which were strongly related to changes in the intensity of artificial feeding. In particular, the abundance of Cinereous Vultures tended to decrease as artificial feeding decreased; decreases in artificial feeding were a preventive measure to address concerns regarding the occurrence of infectious diseases, such as avian influenza and foot and mouth disease. Except for Cinereous Vultures, raptors have decreased for the past ten years in all community indices, such as the number of species (r= −0.74, p<0.05), species diversity (r= −0.76, p<0.05), species richness (r= −0.62, p=0.056), and species evenness (r= −0.67, p<0.05). Such a drop in the raptor indices is possibly due to a decrease in area in the CCZ, increasing residential area, agricultural intensification, and decreasing natural areas.