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Résumé :
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Trends between 1960 and 2013 in wintering waterbirds on the French-German Rhine. This paper recalls the major results published by K. WESTERMANN (2015) on wintering waterbirds censused from 1960 to 2013 on this part of the Rhine (statistical treatments were only possible for the time-period 1974-2013). Between 1952 and 1974 eight barrages have been built up and a few large waterbodies have been created. This deveiopment has greatly improved the suitability for wintering waterbirds of the border area between Germany and France. European Mallards, Eurasian Teals, Little Grebes and Eurasian Coots which were dominant there in former times were soon followed by large numbers of Tufted Ducks and Common Pochards and, in lesser numbers, by Crested Grebes, Great Cormorants, Gadwalls, Eurasian Wigeons, Common Goldeneyes and Mute Swans. A maximum of 140,000 has been reached around 1974, dwindling to 40,000 in 2005-2013 (three species were mainly involved in that decrease: Mallard, Common Pochard and Dessin François Lovaty
Eurasian Coot. The main reasons for this were of local origin (encroachment by bushes of banks, decreasing food resources, human disturbance) but recent trends and redistribution of wintering waterbirds occurring elsewhere in Europe also played a role
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