Distribution and status updates of Chinese Grass-babbler Graminicola striatus in China: Implications for its global conservation status

Abstract The Chinese Grass-babbler Graminicola striatus is a little-known grassland specialist with a broad distribution range in the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. It is currently categorized as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with a suspected small population size and decline in habitat availability, and Hong Kong is considered the global stronghold. To understand its current conservation status, we conducted a range-wide breeding season field survey across southern China, which is the species major global distribution range, between 2016 and 2018, and discovered 14 new sites. These new localities range from lowland abandoned farmlands to upland anthropogenic grasslands, and 50% of these sites were within 250 m from major human settlements. We carried out a thorough literature and specimen collection review, and found no evidence of its presence in central China as established by widely-accepted distribution maps. Results of ecological niche modelling suggest a 18.9% reduction in its potential distribution in South China. Current area of suitable habitats in South China is 227,191 km2, and the recalculated global Extent of Occurrence is 1,307,543 km2, representing a huge range for a species which is not hunted and is tolerant to human disturbance and degraded habitats. In view of the new information on its distribution and inferred habitat suitability, we recommend the global conservation status of Chinese Grass-babbler warrant reassessment, and a Near Threatened category seems to be justified.