Do birds of a feather flock together? Comparing habitat preferences of piscivorous waterbirds in a lowland river catchment

Waterbirds can move into and exploit new areas of suitable habitat outside of their native range. One such example is the little egret (Egretta garzetta), a piscivorous bird which has colonised southern Britain within the last 30 years. Yet, habitat use by little egrets within Britain, and how such patterns of habitat exploitation compare with native piscivores, remains unknown. We examine overlap in habitat preferences within a river catchment between the little egret and two native species, the grey heron (Ardea cinerea) and great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). All species showed strong preferences for river habitat in all seasons, with other habitat types used as auxiliary feeding areas. Seasonal use of multiple habitat types is consistent with egret habitat use within its native range. We found strong egret preference for aquatic habitats, in particular freshwaters, compared with pasture and arable agricultural habitat. Egrets showed greater shared habitat preferences with herons, the native species to which egrets are most morphologically and functionally similar. This is the first study to quantify little egret habitat preferences outside of its native range

Foraging ecology of birds in mudflat area of Tanjung Laboh, Johor

Tanjung Laboh is located in one out of three Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Johor called South West Johor Coast which is very crucial foraging ground for resident and migratory shorebirds. However, the airfield development plan located in the area have been an issue as it might disturbed the foraging ecology of the shorebirds. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse the food resources present and the foraging behaviour of the shorebirds in order to determine the effect of disturbance towards the shorebirds’ foraging behaviour. Thus, a study was conducted for a month (July to August 2018) in the mudflat area of Tanjung Laboh to identified the time spent of foraging, food selection and foraging technique of shorebirds by using direct observation method. A total of 212 observations were recorded during sampling period. No significant differences were found in time spent foraging between the bird species, (F = 0.18, p = 0.946). ASpearmanRankCorrelation proved that there is no significant relationship between the time spent of foraging and the number of preys taken by each species (R= 0.436, p > 0.05). Based on observation, fish is the most preferred diet choice among bird species which counts a total of 57% followed by unknown (20%), worm (19%) and bivalve (4%). Significant correlation was found between the abundance of bird and the frequency of disturbances (humans, dogs and vehicles) (p < 0.05) while human contribute to a higher percentage in disruptions towards the species studied (57.7%). The responses of the birds towards the disturbances were varied in this study, however the birds tend to choose foraging ground far from disturbance area as the disturbances might chase birds’ prey away thus reduce their feeding rate. By understanding how the shorebirds response toward disturbance, the conservation action can be enforced in the future

Foraging ecology of three heron species at the wetlands of Kerkini and Mikri Prespa

The foraging ecology of three heron species, Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), Great Egret (Egretta alba) and Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) was studied, at two of the most important Greek inland wetlands, lakes Kerkini and Mikri Prespa, in Northern Greece, during the period 1992-2000. The research had four main objectives, investigated in four stand-alone chapters: a) to identify and describe the various foraging habitats of the three species (Chapter 1), b) to document the effect of Kerkini’s water level fluctuations on heron foraging habitat availability and use (Chapter 2), c) to study the foraging ecology parameters of the three species at the foraging habitats of the two wetlands and assess habitat profitability for each species (Chapter 3), and d) to investigate the potential impact of variation in foraging habitats spatial distribution and profitability, to each species breeding output (Chapter 4). In the first chapter, wetland habitats of the two study areas were identified, classified and mapped, taking into account features such as substrate, water regime, and vegetation form, according to the relevant US classification scheme. All three inland wetland systems, present at the US classification scheme, lacustrine, palustrine and riverine were identified at the areas studied, but their extend and dominant vegetation characteristics, varied between the wetland complexes of Prespa and Kerkini. Due to the large, man induced, water level fluctuations at Kerkini, there existed more water regime categories than at Prespa. The most striking difference among the habitat features of the 2 wetland complexes, was the dominance of emergent vegetation at Prespa’s palustrine habitats, comparing to Kerkini’s where submerged or floating vascular vegetation persisted at the littoral zone. Habitats used by herons for foraging were then determined and grouped in three broad categories: a) marshes, characterized by the presence of stagnant water, submerged, or persistent emergent vegetation, b) rivers, characterized by the presence of running water and c) wet meadows, defined as seasonally inundated areas with dense emergent grasses growing in spring and early summer, during the inundation period. A special sub-category was assigned to Kerkini’s marshes, named “ponds”, defined as isolated bodies of water with submerged or emergent vegetation, used by herons during the period of water recession. The above categories constituted the heron foraging habitats, treated in the following chapters. In the second chapter, the effect of water level fluctuations on the seasonal availability and use of heron foraging habitats was investigated at Kerkini Lake. The lake water levels were classified into three lake stages based on the annual duration and depth of flooding. The area of available foraging habitat was then estimated for the mean depth of each lake stage, and the use of each habitat by foraging herons was analyzed.Στην παρούσα διατριβή διερευνήθηκε η οικολογία τροφοληψίας τριών ειδών ερωδιών, του Σταχτοτσικνιά (Ardea cinerea), του Αργυροτσικνιά (Egretta alba) και του Λευκοτσικνιά (Egretta garzetta), σε δύο από τους σημαντικότερους εσωτερικούς υγροτόπους της χώρας μας, τις λίμνες Κερκίνη και Μικρή Πρέσπα, κατά την περίοδο 1992-2000. Η έρευνα είχε τέσσερις στόχους, οι οποίοι διερευνήθηκαν σε αντίστοιχα αυτοτελή κεφάλαια της διατριβής: α) την αναγνώριση και περιγραφή των ενδιαιτημάτων τροφοληψίας των ερωδιών στις περιοχές έρευνας (Κεφάλαιο 1), β) τη διερεύνηση των επιπτώσεων της αυξομείωσης της στάθμης της λίμνης Κερκίνης, στην εποχιακή διαθεσιμότητα και χρήση των ενδιαιτημάτων τροφοληψίας των ερωδιών (Κεφάλαιο 2), γ) τη διερεύνηση των παραμέτρων της οικολογίας τροφοληψίας των τριών ειδών, στα ενδιαιτήματα των δύο λιμνών και την εκτίμηση της αποδοτικότητας των ενδιαιτημάτων αυτών (Κεφάλαιο 3), δ) τη διερεύνηση της επίδρασης της αποδοτικότητας και της χωροδιάταξης των πεδίων τροφοληψίας, στο θεωρητικά αναμενόμενο αναπαραγωγικό αποτέλεσμα των τριών ειδών (Κεφάλαιο 4). Στο πρώτο Κεφάλαιο, αναγνωρίσθηκαν, ταξινομήθηκαν και χαρτογραφήθηκαν τα υγροτοπικά ενδιαιτήματα των δύο περιοχών, με βάση χαρακτηριστικά όπως ο τύπος υποστρώματος, η υδροπερίοδος και η φυσιογνωμία της βλάστησης, σύμφωνα με το σχετική μέθοδο ταξινόμησης υγροτόπων που εφαρμόζεται στις ΗΠΑ. Με βάση την ταξινόμηση αυτή, στις δύο περιοχές έρευνας απαντώνται και τα τρία συστήματα εσωτερικών υγροτόπων, το λιμναίο, το ποτάμιο και το υγροστασιακό, που περιγράφονται από τη μέθοδο. Η έκταση κάθε συστήματος καθώς και οι επικρατούσες φυσιογνωμίες βλάστησης διέφεραν μεταξύ των δύο περιοχών έρευνας, εξαιτίας των διαφοροποιήσεων την υδροπερίοδο, με αποτέλεσμα να υπάρχουν περισσότερες υδρολογικές κατηγορίες στη λίμνη Κερκίνη. Η σημαντικότερη διαφορά, σε ό,τι αφορά στις επικρατούσες μορφές βλάστησης, παρατηρήθηκε μεταξύ των παράκτιων υγροστασιακών ενδιαιτημάτων των δύο περιοχών, με επικράτηση της παραμένουσας υπερυδατικής βλάστησης στη Μικρή Πρέσπα, σε αντίθεση με την Κερκίνη, όπου επικρατεί η υφυδατική ή εφυδατική επιπλέουσα βλάστηση. Τα ενδιαιτήματα που χρησιμοποιούνται από τους ερωδιούς για τροφοληψία, αναγνωρίσθηκαν και ομαδοποιήθηκαν σε τρεις γενικές κατηγορίες: α) τα έλη, που χαρακτηρίζονται από την παρουσία στάσιμου νερού, υφυδατικής ή παραμένουσας υπερυδατικής βλάστησης, β) τα ποτάμια, που χαρακτηρίζονται από την παρουσία ρέοντος ύδατος και γ) τα υγρά λιβάδια, που προσδιορίζονται ως περιοδικώς κατακλυζόμενες εκτάσεις, στις οποίες η αύξηση της επικρατούσας ποώδους βλάστησης, λαμβάνει χώρα την άνοιξη ή στις αρχές του καλοκαιριού, συμπίπτοντας με την περίοδο κατάκλυσης. Η υδρολογική ιδιαιτερότητα της Κερκίνης, επέβαλε τη δημιουργία μιας ιδιαίτερης υποκατηγορίας στα έλη της περιοχής, αυτής των εποχιακών υδατοσυλλογών, που χαρακτηρίζονται ως απομονωμένες συλλογές νερού, με υφυδατική ή υπερυδατική βλάστηση, που χρησιμοποιούνται για τροφοληψία από τους ερωδιούς κατά την περίοδο υποχώρησης της στάθμης της λίμνης. Οι παραπάνω κατηγορίες και υποκατηγορίες αντιπροσωπεύουν τα ενδιαιτήματα τροφοληψίας των τριών ειδών, που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στα επόμενα κεφάλαια της έρευνας

Waterfowl habitat restoration in a seasonal island wetland

AbstractThe wetland of Chortarolimni is an island, seasonal wetland with brackish waters. Due to a drainage ditch installed in the 1970s the breeding wildfowl of the wetland (Mallard, Common Shellduck, Ruddy Shellduck, Black-winged stilt and Eurasian Coot) suffers from the early seasonal draught. After an ecological assessment of the site, which involved a site visit and analysis of previous reports on the wetland, restorative measures were identified and designed to conserve the breeding waterfowl by enhancing the availability of open water and pond habitats during the waterfowl breeding period. Successful monitoring of the restoration measures will enhance the wetland ecosystem services and the ecotourism potential of the area

First Record of &lt;i&gt;Stellagama stellio&lt;/i&gt; (Squamata: Agamidae) from Karpathos Island, Greece

In this note we report for the first time the occurrence of the Roughtail Rock Agama (Stellagama stellio) from Kaprathos Island, Greece. Greece represents the westernmost range limit of the animal and hosts its only European populations. Although Karpathos is a relatively well-studied island in terms of its herpetofauna, this is the second remarkable herpetological finding within the past year, following the rediscovery of the Grass Snake more than 50 years after it was first described from the island. This report for S. stellio expands the range of the species and it is added to a long series of new records in the Greek herpetofauna that occurred during the last few years.</jats:p

First record of stellagama stellio (Squamata: Agamidae) from Karpathos Island, Greece

In this note we report for the first time the occurrence of the Roughtail Rock Agama (Stellagama stellio) from Kaprathos Island, Greece. Greece represents the westernmost range limit of the animal and hosts its only European populations. Although Karpathos is a relatively well-studied island in terms of its herpetofauna, this is the second remarkable herpetological finding within the past year, following the rediscovery of the Grass Snake more than 50 years after it was first described from the island. This report for S. stellio expands the range of the species and it is added to a long series of new records in the Greek herpetofauna that occurred during the last few years. © 2020 Folium Publishing Company

The diet of the Eleonora's falcon (Falco eleonorae) in the Aegean archipelago (Greece)

Xirouchakis, S. M., Alivizatos, H., Georgopoulou, E., Dimalexis, A., Latsoudis, P., Portolou, D., Karris, G., Georgiakakis, P., Fric, J., Saravia, V., Barboutis, C., Bourdakis, S., Kakalis, E., Kominos, T., Simaiakis, S. (2019): The diet of the Eleonora's falcon (Falco eleonorae) in the Aegean archipelago (Greece). Journal of Natural History 53 (29): 1767-1785, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2019.166897

Agroforestry and the Climate Crisis: Prioritizing Biodiversity Restoration for Resilient and Productive Mediterranean Landscapes

This study deals with the future of the traditional agroforestry systems (TAFSs) in the northern Mediterranean Basin. Important productive systems, such as ancient non-irrigated olive groves and extensive silvopastoral systems, from subalpine grasslands to coastal landscapes, are being irreversibly degraded, threatening the bio-cultural heritage of the Mediterranean region, an area recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot. In the midst of the global biodiversity and climate crisis, immediate actions are proposed for the protection and conservation management of TAFSs, within a new EU policy framework. Having the TAFSs of Greece in the spotlight of this analysis, a four-step approach was used in order to review the value of agroforestry in terms of (a) biodiversity (birds, mammals, invertebrates and soil biota), (b) agroforestry landscapes, such as traditional olive groves on terraces and valonia silvopastoral systems, (c) ecosystem services, especially concerning cultural values, and (d) the modern threats to traditional agroforestry. Through this research, problems are highlighted and European policy priorities are defined. Our conclusion is that there is an immediate need to revise the European Union rural, forestry, and environmental policies in the Mediterranean region, following the provisions of the new EU Nature Restoration Law, in order to revive agroforestry landscapes and make them productive and sustainable again for the benefit of rural economies, local communities, and biodiversity, especially in marginal Mediterranean mountainous and island areas, where depopulation and susceptibility to wildfires are major threats