Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Habitat features and human presence as predictors of the abundance of shorebirds and wading birds wintering in the Gulf of Gabès, Tunisia

2015; Inter-Research; Volume: 540; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3354/meps11500

1616-1599

Foued Hamza, Salah Selmi,

Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 540:251-258 (2015) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11500 Habitat features and human presence as predictors of the abundance of shorebirds and wading birds wintering in the Gulf of Gabès, Tunisia Foued Hamza*, Slaheddine Selmi Département des Sciences de la Vie, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Gabès, Zrig 6072, Gabès, Tunisia *Corresponding author: fouedhamza2010@gmail.com ABSTRACT: Understanding ecological factors and processes affecting waterbird abundance is a major question in ecology and important for conservation purposes. In the Mediterranean, studies dealing with the determinants of waterbird abundance and distribution have mainly been concerned with European coastal habitats, whereas less attention has been paid to coastal areas in North Africa. In this work, we used count data to investigate the relevance of habitat features and human presence as predictors of the abundance of shorebirds and wading birds wintering in the Gulf of Gabès, a particularly important wintering quarter for many Palearctic waterbirds in Tunisia. We found that the strength and direction of the relationships between bird abundance and both habitat and human parameters varied among species, depending on their ecological requirements. Most species occurred more abundantly in large mudflats compared to narrow sandy beaches, while one species showed an opposite trend. We also found that the studied sites were frequently visited by local people, mainly for clam harvesting, thus sharing the intertidal habitats with birds. However, the abundance of most species did not decrease with increasing human presence, suggesting that traditional clam-harvesting activity did not seem to disturb birds. Nonetheless, we believe that further investigations of the interactions between birds and clam-harvesters are needed to better understand the role of traditional clam-harvesting activity in shaping the abundance and diversity of waterbirds wintering in the Gulf of Gabès. KEY WORDS: Clam harvesting · Environmental factors · Intertidal area · Tunisia · Waterbirds Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Hamza F, Selmi S (2015) Habitat features and human presence as predictors of the abundance of shorebirds and wading birds wintering in the Gulf of Gabès, Tunisia. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 540:251-258. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11500 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 540. Online publication date: November 26, 2015 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2015 Inter-Research.