| Titre : | Artificial Wetlands and Waterbirds. A Literature Review |
| Auteurs : | Amal Chantoufi, Auteur |
| Type de document : | Mémoire |
| Editeur : | Angers : Université d'Angers, Septembre 2021 |
| Format : | 49 |
| Note générale : | Master 2 Biodiversity, Ecology And Evolution, Ecology And Eco-Engineering Of Wetlands : Internship report |
| Langues: | Anglais |
| Mots-clés : | zone méditerranéenne ; Zone humide ; Barrage ; Oiseaux d'eau ; Conservation nature |
| Mots-clés: | Artificial wetlands, conservation, dam reservoirs, Mediterranean basin, waterbirds. |
| Résumé : | Wetlands are considered as one of the most threatened habitats worldwide. In the Mediterranean basin, they are of major concern, facing a 45% loss since 1970. In this context, artificial wetlands such as dam reservoirs are playing an important role in maintaining avian diversity. Waterbird communities using reservoirs are generally less diverse than those using natural wetlands. However, the conservation value of these habitats needs further exploration given the current major resurgence in dam construction within the Mediterranean region. Here, we evaluated wintering waterbird community composition within dam reservoirs for 22 Mediterranean countries between 1993 and 2017. We characterized dam reservoirs that encompassed waterbird surveys, and tested the dissimilarities in both species and functional group composition between dam sites and other wetland types. The waterbird community within reservoirs was dominated by dabbling ducks in terms of number of individuals. We found that there were significant differences in both functional and species composition between dams and other wetland types. Diving ducks showed a close association to dam sites, whereas small wading birds were more abundant in other wetland types. Our results also highlight the importance of dam reservoirs for waterbird species of high conservation value such as Oxyura leucocephala and Vanellus vanellus, and provide evidence that under arid climates, dam reservoirs may play a major role in hosting waterbird communities, even when they are originally associated to other wetland types. We conclude, from our results, that conservation actions should prioritize the protection of biodiverse reservoirs in regions where natural wetlands are the most unavailable. This study should be further extended to include Algeria, Spain, and Libya to assess the conservation value of dam reservoirs at the Mediterranean scale. |
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 Artificial Wetlands and Waterbirds. A Literature Review Adobe Acrobat PDF |
