The effects of wetland features and their edges on waterfowl

Abstract

The ecology of aquatic birds in Central and Eastern Europe is still barely studied and there are few research papers that prove the connection between the landscape factors and the presence of certain aquatic bird species in wetlands. In this context our goal was to identify those factors that influence the existence of aquatic birds in their breeding period. Ten wetlands with different characteristics from Eastern Romania were chosen, all being representative areas in terms of nesting and shelter places for breeding waterfowls. We analyzed the link between the presence of the bird species and the degree of sinuosity, the surface and the fragmentation of the area and the edges of the wetlands. Bird census was made during two years, 2011 and 2012. The variables that had a negative influence on the analyzed birds were represented by the sinuosity of lakes and the number of habitat patches, whereas the number of water bodies and marshes surface had a positive effect. The management measures must be correlated to the necessity of preserving a higher number of water bodies instead of larger ones. In same order preserve of marshes is essential in vicinity of water bodies.