La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Definition of potential habitats of Grey Heron using landscape analysis and the species ecological niche
Auteurs :	B Boisteau, Auteur ; Loïc Marion, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Alauda (73 janvier 1, 2005)
Article en page(s) :	431-440
Résumé :	Having almost disappeared from France at the beginning of the 20th century because of human disturbances, Grey Heron Ardea cinerea is progressively re-colonising its original breeding range. The Loire Atlantique played a key role in this process in western France. The present study takes this département as an example to test the relationships between landscape parameters and the distribution of the 25 breeding colonies known in 1994, aiming to identify the species ecological niche and its future expansion as modelled from existing potential habitats. The Ecological Niche Factorial Analysis Method (ENFA) enabled us to identify the main eco-geographical parameters for the species in this area (area of wetland, length and spacing of ditches, distance from the coast, landscape heterogeneity, altitude, human density) which explained 98.3% of the marginality and 96.6% of the specialisation. In this department, which was colonized from the beginning of the XXth century, Grey Heron use almost all potential habitats, excepted three small areas which will probably be colonized rapidly. An important part of the départment appears unfavourable to the species (hedgerows and crops landscape).

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