Accepted Manuscript The Globally Threatened Birds in Mongolia: A Review Onolragchaa Ganbold, Munkhbaatar Munkhbayar, In-Hwan Paik, Gi-Chang Bing, Ariunbold Jargalsaikhan, Erdenetushig Purevee, Woon Kee Peak PII: S2287-884X(17)30101-2 DOI: 10.1016/j.japb.2017.08.009 Reference: JAPB 253 To appear in: Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Received Date: 27 June 2017 Revised Date: 17 August 2017 Accepted Date: 25 August 2017 Please cite this article as: Ganbold O, Munkhbayar M, Paik I-H, Bing G-C, Jargalsaikhan A, Purevee E, Peak WK, The Globally Threatened Birds in Mongolia: A Review, Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.japb.2017.08.009. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT The Globally Threatened Birds in Mongolia: A Review Onolragchaa Ganbold a,b , Munkhbaatar Munkhbayar c, In-Hwan Paik b, Gi-Chang Bing b, Ariunbold Jargalsaikhan c , Erdenetushig Purevee c, and Woon Kee Peak b* a Department of Animal Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764 Korea b Division of Research and Promotion, National Science Museum of Korea, Daejeon 305-705, Korea c Departments of Biology, Mongolian National University of Education, Ulaanbaatar-210648, Mongolia ABSTRACT This paper reviews status of globally threatened birds (GTBs) in Mongolia. Here we reviewed 26 GTBs from eight orders. In addition, we summarized here recorded ten GTBs during our 2016 field surveys. Swan geese were most numerous and most frequently sighted of the GTBs with mean 33.8±54.1 counted bird. The Mongolian Avifauna assessed with 476 species of 19 different orders. Twenty-six species (5.1%) out of 476 species had listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list as GTBs. In addition, there is still huge lack of investigation for GTBs (indeed, whole avifaMANUSCRIPTuna) of Mongolia. Keywords: Globally threatened birds (GTBs), IUCN, Red list INTRODUCTION Mongolia is a vast country with diverse natural zones and landscapes, harboring rich and unique assemblages of birds (Gombobaatar et al, 2011). The country is located at the junction of three migratory flyways, i.e. East Asia Australian, Central Asian and East Africa-West Asia flyways. Over the past decades, Mongolia has undergone significant social and economic changes, and during that time, many groups of birds, including cranes, breeding shorebirds, raptors and some passerines, have experienced rapid declines (Gombobaatar et al, 2011). Categories in theACCEPTED IUCN Red list, i.e. Vulnerable (VU), Endangered (EN), and Critically Endangered (CR) were considered as Globally Threatened species in the IUCN Red List, whereas Near Threatened were not included in GTB. 1 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Foreign scientists have previously studied the Mongolian Avifauna, especially the Russian scientists (including those from the former Soviet Union) conducted basic studies on Mongolian Avifauna during the 19 th and 20 th Centuries (Adiya & Suran, 2008). The previous work included research into the avifauna along the Mongolian-Soviet border area (focusing on Mongol Daguur) which conducted by the Soviet Union’s Institute of Geography. Historical biological expeditions by Mongolia and Germany (between 1962 and 1964) and Mongolia and Russia (since 1970) explored most of the Mongolian avifauna (Adiya & Suran, 2008). Since the second half of the 20 th Century, Mongolian researchers’ roles rapidly increased to study the country’s fauna (Adiya & Suran, 2008) especially in the case of Globally Threatened species. Currently, some surveys on Globally Threatened Birds (GTBs) are being conducted by a joint expedition of Mongolian and foreign scientists in Mongolia. Particularly, migration ecology-flyway, conservation management, and other ecological and biological surveys are being conducted for several GTBs, i.e. Swan Goose (Anser cygniod ), White-napped Crane (Grus vipio ), Steppe Eagle ( Aquila nepalensis ), Great Bustard ( Otis tarda ), and Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug ). The Wildlife Science & Conservation Center of Mongolia (WSCCM) and the Mongolian Ornithological Society (MOS) areMANUSCRIPT participating with major roles for GTBs studies. Further, two major conservation documents for Mongolian birds were titled as: (a) “Directory of Important Bird Areas in Mongolia: KEY SITES FOR CONSERVATION” and (b) “MONGOLIAN RED LIST OF BIRDS” performed by these two organization, respectively. In addition, Ornithological Laboratory of the Mongolian Academy of Science and Department of Biology of Mongolian National University of Education (MNUE) had been playing a significant part for study on GTBs. Furthermore, here we reported ten GTBs belong to four orders which were observed in 2016 Important Bird Area (IBA) survey, performed by research team of MNUE and National Science Museum of Korea (NSMK). In addition, the most part of Mongolian avifauna remain as very poor investigated. As meintioned above,ACCEPTED earlier studies conducted by foriegn scientists and since 1980s by themselves which were focused on some GTBs. Further, there is still a need to expand the birds survyes in Mongolian avifauna to improve understanding their avifauna importance. Our 2 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT objective for this paper is to introduce wide opportunities and territory of Mongolian avifauna to the international organizations, individual reseachers as well. STATUS OF MONGOLIAN BIRDS In recent years, international nature conservation organizations are paying attention to the highly diverse Mongolian avifauna. Mongolia is one of the top-priority countries for bird research and conservation as it is located at the junction of three different migratory flyways and contains globally significant breeding grounds for threatened species (Gombobaatar et al, 2011). The main bird habitats in Mongolia comprise of grassland steppe, semi-desert and desert, mountain steppe, high mountains, forested mountains, wetlands and riparian areas (Batbayar et al, 2009). Currently, 476 species of birds had recorded in Mongolia, belonging to 60 families and 19 orders. There are 81 species of resident birds and 395 species of migratory birds. In addition, 310 species of migratory birds breed in Mongolia, ten species are winter visitors from Siberia, nine species are summer visitors and 66 species MANUSCRIPTare vagrants (Bold et al, 2007). The 435 species listed as of Least Concern (LC) in the IUCN Red List, whereas, 14 species listed as Near Threatened (NT), 14 species as Vulnerable (VU), 9 species as Endangered (EN), and three species listed as Critically Endangered (CR) (Figure 1) (Gombobaatar et al, 2011). Twenty-six species GTBs (VU, EN, CR) are belonging to eight different orders (42%) of 19 orders of Mongolia (Figure 2). Population trend of these 26 GTBs is considering still rapidly decreasing across in their global ragnes. Status summaries for GTBs Here we reviewed the 26 GTBs that distributed in Mongolia using historical literature sources (time ranged fromACCEPTED 1930s to 2016). The most part of Mongolian avifauna, especially GTBs and Near Threatened species (NT) are poor investigated through its valuable Mongolian breeding range in the past. Just since 1990s, the investigation of GTBs had been increased at the regional and international research levels. As a result, three (12%) of 26 species became well 3 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT studied species in their Mongolian range. Unfortunately, other 23 GTBs (88%) are considered as very poor studied species in their Mongolian range (indeed Eastern and Central Asia). Most of the previous studies were conducted for Raptors (six species) (also known as the birds of prey), especially for their distribution, number, conservation status, breeding, mortality and diet composition. In particularly, Endangered Saker falcon is the most investigated GTB in Mongolia, and this species historically studied by several expeditions such as: Przewalskii (1876); Bianki (1915); Dementiev & Shagdarsuren (1964); Kozlova (1975); Shagdarsuren (1983); Bold et al. (1996); Ellis et al. (1996; 1997); Sumiya & Batsaikhan (1999); Sumiya et al. (2001); Shagdarsuren et al. (2001); and Gombobaatar et al. (1999, 2000a, b, 2001, 2003). In Mongolia, the breeding Saker uses utility poles (n=10 nests), bridges (n=2), old buildings (n=3), track tires (n=1) and rock cliffs, slopes, top of stone pillars and short elms (n= 64 combined) for its nesting site in central and southeast Mongolia (Ellis et al .1997). Further, mortality of GT raptors, i.e. Saker Falcon and the Steppe Eagle (with other raptors) was investigated by several research teams (Harness et al, 2008; Amartuvshin et al, 2012; Batbayat et al, 2017) in eastern and southeast Mongolian steppes where shortage of nesting site. They reported that electrocution could considered as one of the dominant threat for raptors in Mongolia (indeed in their Global RanMANUSCRIPTge IUCN, 2016). During our survey in 2016, we observed seven individuals from seven different localities (Table 2) and we found four electrocuted (dead) birds just in our 10km drive in Bogd soum (village) of Ovorkhangai aimag (province: N44.81- 44.90; E101.92 – 102.00). The Steppe Eagle’s