Occurrence dataset of birds in the Xinjizhou National Wetland Park, Nanjing, China

Abstract Background Xinjizhou National Wetland Park is located in Jiangning District, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. With diverse wetland landscape types, Xinjizhou National Wetland Park maintains high biodiversity all year around. Meanwhile, as an important hub on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, Xinjizhou National Wetland Park also occupies a core ecological position in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province. Therefore, carrying out systematic bird surveys and consequently understanding the distribution of birds and the seasonal variation of their communities can provide important insights for conservation. We conducted a one-year bird survey in the Xinjizhou National Wetland Park from 2021 to 2022 and provided occurrence datasets, including detailed species and geographic information.This dataset fills the knowledge gap in avian community composition for the Wetland Park and more importantly provides a basis to assess the conservation effectiveness of conservation measures taken in the Wetland Park. New information This occurrence dataset is the first public record of birds in Xinjizhou National Wetland Park. All data have been published on GBIF.


Introduction
Wetlands have a crucial ecosystem function and play a key role in maintaining the survival and reproduction of many organisms (Zedler and Kercher 2005).Birds are rich in species, widely distributed and easy to observe, their population dynamics, community structure and diversity are often used as important indicators for wetland environmental dynamic monitoring (Bart 2005, Zhou et al. 2019, Wang et al. 2022).Wetland parks are important type of constructed wetlands.As a supplement to natural wetlands, wetland parks organically integrate wetland protection, ecological restoration and sustainable utilisation of wetland resources and play an increasingly important role in global ecological protection and sustainable development (Wu et al. 2015).
Xinjizhou National Wetland Park is located in Jiangning District, Nanjing City.It lies in the upstream of the Jiangsu section of the Yangtze River, mainly including Xinji zhou, Xinsheng zhou, Zaisheng zhou, Zimu zhou and Zihui zhou.Xinjizhou National Wetland Park is an important representative of seasonally flooded wetlands in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.With diverse wetland landscape types, the Park maintains high biodiversity all the year round and, hence, is an important node for biodiversity conservation in the Basin (Wang et al. 2006, Cao et al. 2021).
At the same time, as an important transit station in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), it also occupies an important ecological position in Jiangsu and even the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (Yong et al. 2015).Therefore, carrying out systematic bird surveys and consequently understanding the distribution of birds and the seasonal variation of their communities can provide important insights for conservation of regional bird resources (Ellis et al. 2019, Chen et al. 2021).
In this study, a systematic bird census was carried out monthly in Xinjizhou National Wetland Park from March 2021 to February 2022 to collate the bird distribution and community composition in the Wetland Park.Based on the annual monitoring results, the bird diversity and the seasonal variation of its community are analysed.The results can provide a scientific basis for the protection of bird diversity in Xinjizhou National Wetland Park and a detailed reference for the management and protection of beach wetlands in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Sampling methods
Sampling description: A total of 10 survey transects were set up in Xinjizhou National Wetland Park according to the beach area, habitat types and accessibility.The length of the transect ranged from 1.0 to 3.3 km, covering all habitat types in the Wetland Park (Fig. 1).From March 2021 to February 2022, a monthly bird survey was carried out on each of the 10 lines with binoculars (Shuntu 339FT 10*42) and monoculars (Swarovski ATS 20*60), recording birds species and their abundances.For species which were difficult to identify in the field, we used a camera (Canon Eos R6) with telephoto lens (Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3DG OS HSM C) to take pictures and identify them later in the lab.The classification of birds was based on A Checklist on the Classification and Distribution of the Birds of China (Third Edition) (Zheng 2017).The final dataset was organised according to the Darwin Core format and uploaded to GBIF upon the conclusion of annual survey (Shen et al. 2023).

Figure 1.
The location of the study area and the name of each island.
Occurrence dataset of birds in the Xinjizhou National Wetland Park, Nanjing, ...

ownerInstitutionCode
The name (or acronym) in use by the institution having ownership of the object(s)    or information referred to in the record.languageA language of the resource.occurrenceIDAn identifier for the Occurrence (as opposed to a particular digital record of the occurrence).In the absence of a persistent global unique identifier, construct one from a combination of identifiers in the record that will most closely make the occurrenceID globally unique.basisOfRecord The specific nature of the data record.individualCount The number of individuals present at the time of the Occurrence.organismQuantity A number or enumeration value for the quantity of organisms.organismQuantityType The type of quantification system used for the quantity of organisms.occurrenceStatus A statement about the presence or absence of a Taxon at a Location.scientificName The full scientific name, with authorship and date information, if known.When forming part of an Identification, this should be the name in the lowest level taxonomic rank that can be determined.This term should not contain identification qualifications, which should instead be supplied in the IdentificationQualifier term.kingdom The full scientific name of the kingdom in which the taxon is classified.phylum The full scientific name of the phylum or division in which the taxon is classified.class The full scientific name of the class in which the taxon is classified.order The full scientific name of the order in which the taxon is classified.family The full scientific name of the family in which the taxon is classified.taxonRank The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientificName.recordedBy A person, group or organisation responsible for recording the original Occurrence.•Zhou Y, Jiao S, Jiang S, et al. (2019) Avian diversity and seasonal dynamic in the Tingjiang National Wetland Park.Journal of Forest and Environment 39 (1): 42-47.[In Chinese].https://doi.org/10.13324/j.cnki.jfcf.2019.01.008

Line number Line location Starting coordinates Ending coordinates Habitat type
Coordinates: 31.78N and 31.93N Latitude; 118.48 E and 118.59 E Longitude.

Table 1 .
Distribution of survey transects for bird monitoring in Xinzhou National Wetland Park.

Table 2 .
Birds species list in the Xinjizhou National Wetland Park.Occurrence dataset of birds in the Xinjizhou National Wetland Park, Nanjing, ... Occurrence dataset of birds in the Xinjizhou National Wetland Park, Nanjing, ...

Number of data sets: 1 Data set name:
Occurrence dataset of birds in the Xinjizhou National Wetland Park, Our occurrence dataset contains 35 column labels.All occurrence records are georeferenced.Due to the limitations of the sample line method, the positions of all recorded birds are replaced by lines' ID.The horizontal distance (in metres) from the given decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude describing the smallest circle containing the whole of the Location.Leave the value empty if the uncertainty is unknown, cannot be estimated or is not applicable (because there are no coordinates).Zero is not a valid value for this term.typeThenature or genre of the resource.
geodeticDatumThe ellipsoid, geodetic datum or spatial reference system (SRS) upon which the geographic coordinates given in decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude are based.coordinateUncertaintyInMetres