Conservation value of solar salt ponds in coastal tropical eastern Australia to waterbirds and migratory shorebirds.

Abstract

Some human-altered habitats such as saltfields support significant numbers of shorebirds and waterbirds, but their values in tropical eastern Australia are poorly understood. With the continuing loss of shorebird habitats in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, identification of important habitats and management is important for their conservation. The habitat value of two saltfields associated with the Fitzroy River estuary, Queensland (23.520S, 150.860E) was evaluated by monthly surveys over 33 months and by comparison to previous surveys of nearby natural wetlands. Saltfields supported as many waterbirds and species as freshwater and naturally saline lagoons. Numbers of migratory shorebirds peaked during the southern migration period (September to November), when wetlands in tropical northern Australia are at their lowest extent, thus elevating the conservation value of tropical saltfields to shorebirds. Sharp-tailed Sandpipers were regularly present in numbers exceeding international levels for staging, while Red-necked Stints were just below the staging criterion. Salinity regime was found to influence waterbird communities associated with saltfield pools: piscivores dominating metasaline pools, and shorebirds hypersaline pools. A seasonal pattern of occurrence occurred in some guilds with greatest numbers in the drier months (cormorants, pelicans, ducks and egrets, all significantly negatively correlated with the previous month’s rainfall), most of which bred in nearby natural wetlands during the wet season. Furthermore, cormorants were abundant in the saltfields and fluctuated less compared with natural lagoons during the critical drier months. Overall, saltfields are an integral component of the ecology of the landscape, providing complementary resources to that of the natural wetlands.

Alternative habitat: the importance of the Nanpu Saltpans for migratory waterbirds in the Chinese Yellow Sea

“…They are often classified as ‘functional wetlands’ with a high biological richness and support large numbers of shorebirds and other waterbird groups worldwide (e.g. Masero 2003, Sripanomyom et al 2011, Houston et al 2012, Green et al 2015, Rogers et al 2015). Their role in providing foraging and/or resting grounds for waterbirds varies according to species, time of year and tidal cycle.…”

Predictors of Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) nest survival in artificial coastal saltpans, Bohai Bay, China

“…These losses pose serious threats to waterbird populations dependent on these wetlands for staging, non-breeding, or breeding habitat (Warnock et al, 2002;Kirwan & Megonigal, 2013;Ma et al, 2014). Concurrently, artificial wetlands are rapidly expanding, caused by commercial enterprises such as salt production, and are creating a combined landscape mosaic of both anthropogenic and natural origins that can provide alternative or supplemental breeding and foraging habitats for waterbird species (Houston et al, 2012;Bluso-Demers et al, 2016;Rocha et al, 2017;Lei et al, 2018;Barnagaud et al, 2019).…”