Understanding Recovery Is as Important as Understanding Decline: The Case of the Crested Ibis in China
, Jiayu Fu 3, Tianqing Zhai 4, Yazu Zhang 4, Michael W. Bruford 5, Yuehua Sun 1,2 and Xiangjiang Zhan 1,2Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
A quality article dealing with a very interesting topic. It brings new information and findings. I recommend for publication.
Just two notes about the texts:
1) Methodology: it would be good to specify better and in more detail the method of determining numbers in the field. Were the same line transects always used, how were they located, how many were checked? Are there any other specifications - time of day, etc.
2) The work talks about water bodies and streams in general, it would be interesting for readers to specify whether they are natural or man-made/created/influenced streams and bodies (in the sense of the article Šálek et al. 2007). Did the nature of the aquatic habitats play any role in the preferences of the observed species? It is possible to state in the description of the studied area or in the discussion.
Author Response
A quality article dealing with a very interesting topic. It brings new information and findings. I recommend for publication.
Just two notes about the texts:
1) Methodology: it would be good to specify better and in more detail the method of determining numbers in the field. Were the same line transects always used, how were they located, how many were checked? Are there any other specifications - time of day, etc.
Response: Most of the surveys were carried out by the staff of the nature reserve (local people, coauthors Zhai and Zhang), so that we did not give detailed survey information. Anyway, this is a very good suggestion and we added the following contents: We determined a survey route for each nest. Most survey routes are fixed and have been repeatedly used for many years. Occasionally, surveyors made a detour in order to find new nests. The crested ibis is a large bird, which can be easily detected in forests, shrubs, and crop lands. As such, the survey time is at day time (7:00-19:00), not like song bird surveys that start at dawn.
2) The work talks about water bodies and streams in general, it would be interesting for readers to specify whether they are natural or man-made/created/influenced streams and bodies (in the sense of the article Šálek et al. 2007). Did the nature of the aquatic habitats play any role in the preferences of the observed species? It is possible to state in the description of the studied area or in the discussion.
Response: In the study area, all streams are natural without dams or levees. However, there are lots of man-made ponds and reservoirs, contributing about 20% of the water body areas. Besides, all rice paddies are non-natural. As such, the aquatic habitat of the crested ibis is half-natural. We think the crested ibis is a “smart” bird that adapted to human-alternated habitat fast, and became a human-commensal bird species. We added the above content in the Discussion section.
Reviewer 2 Report
This manuscript addresses about the recovery process of the crested ibis (Nipponia nippon) in China, using species distribution models to understand this recovery process.
Overall, it is a very interesting and valuable work, to try to explain the recovery process of the Crested Ibis in China.
The introduction is well focused. The methodology is adequate, including the statistical analysis used. The results are clearly exposed. The discussion is short and it is well oriented and well written.
I really have no relevant objections to the manuscript. Simply, the authors must review the format of the bibliography used. For example, sometimes they use the abbreviated name of the journal and sometimes they don't. Also, some scientific names lack italics.
Author Response
This manuscript addresses about the recovery process of the crested ibis (Nipponia nippon) in China, using species distribution models to understand this recovery process.
Overall, it is a very interesting and valuable work, to try to explain the recovery process of the Crested Ibis in China.
The introduction is well focused. The methodology is adequate, including the statistical analysis used. The results are clearly exposed. The discussion is short and it is well oriented and well written.
I really have no relevant objections to the manuscript. Simply, the authors must review the format of the bibliography used. For example, sometimes they use the abbreviated name of the journal and sometimes they don't. Also, some scientific names lack italics.
Response: The abbreviated name of the journals should be correct, because I used Endnote to transform journal names automatically. Some journals with short names have their abbreviated names as same as their full names. While checking the references, I did find some errors. The format of the names of Chinese authors is inconsistent, as the initial of the middle names appeared in some references and not in others. We removed all the middle names for Chinese authors. I also added missing DOIs for the references. The format errors (no italics) for scientific names were fixed.
