Complementary use of natural and artificial wetlands by waterbirds wintering in Doñana, south‐west Spain

Abstract

ABSTRACT1. The Don˜ana wetland complex (SW Spain) holds more wintering waterfowl than any other wetland in Europe.2. This study focused on the use made by 12 common waterbirds (eight ducks and four waders) of the natural seasonal marshes in Don˜ana National Park (DNP) and the adjacent Veta la Palma (VLP) fish ponds created in the early 1990s. Data used were from aerial and terrestrial surveys collected between October and February during six consecutive winters from 1998/99 to 2003/04. Changes in distribution of each bird taxon were related to changes in the extent of flooded marshes within DNP. Up to 295 000 ducks were counted in VLP during dry periods, and up to 770 000 in DNP when it was flooded.3. The timing and extent of flooding in DNP was highly variable, but there was a consistent pattern in which ducks concentrated in VLP during dry months and winters but redistributed to DNP as more of it was flooded. This refuge effect was also strong for black-tailed godwits Limosa limosa, but much less so for other waders. Waders feed mainly on invertebrates, and invertebrate biomass in VLP was found to be higher than in DNP. Ducks feed mainly on seeds and plant material, which are more abundant in DNP when flooded.4. When water levels in DNP were stable over the course of a winter, or controlled for in multivariate models, the numbers of ducks at VLP declined over time, probably due to reduced availability of plant foods. In contrast, numbers of waders at VLP were more stable, and their invertebrate prey became more abundant over time, at least in the winter 2003/4. 5. In this extremely important wetland complex, the value of natural and artificial wetlands for wintering waterbirds are complementary, providing suitable habitat for different species and for different conditions in a highly variable Mediterranean environment.

The effect of water management on extensive aquaculture food webs in the reconstructed wetlands of the Doñana Natural Park, Southern Spain

“…Veta la Palma has an important conservation role in providing feeding grounds for the large wetland bird population during the summer months when the main wetlands in the Doñana National Park are dry (Figuerola and Green 2004;Kloskowski et al 2009), and it is the existence of these reconstructed wetlands that enables a larger and more diverse waterbird community to persist (Kloskowski et al 2009). …”

“…In the 1990's, from previous agricultural land, approximately 3000 ha of wetlands were reconstructed in the form of forty large (70 ha) shallow (0.5 m) brackish-water lagoons, complete with bird shelter/nesting islands and a deeper (1 m) peripheral canal. The permanently inundated lagoons at Veta la Palma provide a vital refuge for these ducks and other waterbirds during the dry season and until winter rains re-flood the Doñana marshes bird populations in Veta la Palma can reach 300,000 (Kloskowski et al 2009). These lagoons are particularly important feeding grounds for great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo), greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus), black winged stilts (Himantopus himantopus) and pied avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta) (Rendon et al 2008), and feeding by flamingos, coots and ducks has been shown to have a significant influence on the biomass of both macrophytes and invertebrate populations Rodriguez-Perez and Green 2012).…”

Fast and Automatic Data-Driven Thresholding for Inundation Mapping with Sentinel-2 Data

“…Rice-paddies, created on top of the former natural marshes, are artificially flooded depending on rice cultivation needs and water available for cultivation. These areas, together with salt pans and aquaculture ponds, constitute an extensive system of artificial wetlands in the Doñana protected area that also provide refuge habitat for many species or water birds, especially when natural wetlands are dry [35].…”

Long-Term Monitoring of the Flooding Regime and Hydroperiod of Doñana Marshes with Landsat Time Series (1974–2014)

“…Hydroperiod becomes a net predictor for aquatic plant species distribution, marsh primary production, and habitat characteristics. Several works have already identified the importance of the hydroperiod duration in predicting the presence, abundance, and breeding success of different waterbird species in the Doñana marshes [76][77][78][79][80][81], and also on raptors foraging in the marshes [82]. The output layers for every single date, i.e., flooding masks and hydroperiod maps per cycle, are accessible online via Web Map Services [83].…”