La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Natural versus artificial- wetlands and their waterbirds in Sri Lanka
Auteurs :	M. G. Bellio, Auteur ; R. T. Kingsford, Auteur ; S. W. Kotagama, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Biological Conservation (142(12) DEC 2009)
Article en page(s) :	3076-3085
Langues:	Anglais
Résumé :	As natural wetlands have disappeared around the world, artificial wetlands have increased. We found interesting differences in waterbird communities of two natural (Bundala Ramsar site) and seven artificial wetlands (irrigation tanks, salt ponds, rice paddies) in south-east Sri Lanka. Eight species exclusively used natural and one species artificial wetlands. Migratory species (shorebirds 64%, terns 47%) dominated species' richness of natural lagoons, with densities of shorebirds 3-6 times greater than on artificial wetlands. Contrastingly, resident species (dabbling ducks, gallinules) contributed most to the diversity (59%) and density of waterbirds on artificial irrigation tanks. Cattle egrets dominated waterbird density (>70%) of rice paddies. Waterbird communities reflected physical and chemical character of wetlands: natural wetlands were shallow ( 1000 msm(-1)) compared to deep (>2 m) and freshwater (EC

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