Conservation of greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) in the Mediterranean region: the case of Saline di Commachio breeding colony

Anastasiia Mazneva, dipl. um.

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus P) is a flagship species for wetlands conservation and a bioindicator of wetland ecosystems stability. This study represents a complex survey of protection and disturbance levels in Mediterranean wetlands, most frequently exploited by Greater Flamingo. The data collected in the course of an international long-term Greater Flamingo monitoring program in the Mediterranean region was explored by overlaying with protected areas databases and available and relevant environmental variables such as human pressure and population density estimates. A survey of wetlands, where P. roseus observations were recorded, revealed a reassuring level of official protection with only 10.5 % of non-protected sites. At the same time, location of non-protected sites in North Africa puts in jeopardy the most active individuals able to undertake distant trips to Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco. A substantial role of industrial salinas, either active or abandoned, in spatial ecology of Greater Flamingo in the study area was confirmed. 40 % of recordings of P. roseus individuals involved in the study belong to active or abandoned salinas. The study also confirms a high fidelity of Greater Flamingo to maternal colony (Saline di Commachio wetlands in North Italy) with 5 % of individuals undertaking multiple distant trips to North Africa.

Keywords

spatial ecology, conservation, Greater Flamingo, capture-resight data

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 18. 4. 2017

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Ing. Vojtěch Barták, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Environmental Sciences

Master programme / field:
Engineering Ecology / Nature Conservation