An Overview of the Determination of Biodiversity of Wetlands

Wetland ecosystems support rich and unique biodiversity. Biodiversity of a given ecosystem in general and wetlands in particular provide important insights to the ecological health of an area. The Ramsar Convention 1971 identified nine criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance. Out of the nine criteria, eight are linked to biodiversity of which three are based on sites of international importance for conserving biological diversity, two are specific for water birds, two are specific for fish, and one criterion for other taxa. Hence, determination of biodiversity of wetlands is of utmost importance. In order to understand that birds, fishes, amphibians, odonates, mammals, and aquatic plants were particularly selected as indicators of wetland biodiversity, the chapter discusses the different methodologies about determination of each of these taxa under different criteria as mentioned above. These methodologies will help various stakeholders in appropriate determination of biodiversity of wetlands of a particular area.

Causes of the dieback of littoral stands in an overpopulated water-bird reserve: Role of eutrophication, fish and geese

European fishponds can serve as refuges for water birds if the fish stocks are limited, but the effects of other ecological factors on their ecological stability are rarely considered. The aim of this study is to determine the causes of marked dieback of littoral stands dominated by Typha angustifolia L. in a hypertrophic fishpond that is also a valuable water bird reserve. A field study and two experiments were conducted in order to separate the effects of mineral nutrient availability, redox conditions, fish and water birds. The physico-chemical characteristics of the water and sediments confirmed hypertrophic conditions in the fishpond, but a mesocosm experiment did not indicate it had a negative effect on plant growth. On the other hand, a field enclosure experiment showed that in sparse stands, unfenced parts had a significantly smaller shoot density than fenced parts. This was attributed to grazing by greylag geese (Anser anser L.). In addition, damage to belowground parts of plants were ascribed to large individuals of albeit a few large common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.). This study highlights a conservation dilemma as large numbers of geese destroy littoral stands in fishpond nature reserves, which then become unsuitable nesting sites for other species of water birds.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium from Wild Birds in the United States Represent Distinct Lineages Defined by Bird Type

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is typically considered a host generalist, however certain strains are associated with specific hosts and show genetic features of host adaptation. Here, we sequenced 131 S. Typhimurium strains from wild birds collected in 30 U.S. states during 1978-2019. We found that isolates from broad taxonomic host groups including passerine birds, water birds (Aequornithes), and larids (gulls and terns) represented three distinct lineages and certain S. Typhimurium CRISPR types presented in individual lineages. We also showed that lineages formed by wild bird isolates differed from most strains originating from domestic animal sources, and genomes from these lineages substantially improved source attribution of Typhimurium genomes to wild birds by a machine learning classifier. Furthermore, virulence gene signatures that differentiated S. Typhimurium from passerines, water birds, and larids were detected. Passerine isolates tended to lack S. Typhimurium-specific virulence plasmids. Isolates from the passerine, water bird, and larid lineages had close genetic relatedness with human clinical isolates, including those from a 2021 U.S. outbreak linked to passerine birds. These observations indicate that S. Typhimurium from wild birds in the U.S. are likely host-adapted, and the representative genomic dataset examined in this study can improve source prediction and facilitate outbreak investigation.

Soundscapes and protected area conservation: Are noises in nature making people complacent?

This study explores how existing connections to natural places may affect PA visitors’ experiences and perceptions within the PA. Specifically, outside-the-PA soundscape perceptions are examined to better understand how their experiences outside the PA may affect perceptions of PA soundscapes and visitors’ ability to effectively contribute to conservation monitoring. Survey research (n=389) of recent urban visitors to the Chilean Coyhaique National Reserve (CNR) in Patagonia unpacked perceptions of the acoustic environments within the places where participants felt most connected to nature, including landscape features, favorite and prevalent sounds, and acceptability of particular anthrophonic sounds. Favorite and prevalent sounds were open-coded, and anthrophonic sounds were rated for prevalence and acceptability. The mountain landscape features and sounds (‘wind’, ‘running water’,‘ birds’) participants described as prominent within the places where they felt most connected to nature aligned well with CNR characteristics. Participants who ‘sometimes’‘/often’ heard certain anthropogenic sounds (vehicles, aircraft, machines, city sounds), within the places where they felt most connected to nature, rated those sounds as more acceptable than participants who reported ‘never’ hearing them, raising concerns about complacency toward anthrophony in natural settings. Continued research efforts are warranted to better understand visitors’ frames of reference, their influence on the reliability of social norm data for PA soundscape monitoring, and their influence on PA managers’ ability to protect conservation values.

Humans in the upstream can exacerbate climate change impacts on water birds’ habitat in the downstream

The present paper aims to quantify how human-made changes in the upstream exacerbate climate change impacts on water birds’ habitat in the downstream. To reduce climate change effects and design adaptation policies, it is important to identify whether human activities understate or overstate the effects of climate change in a region on its inhabitants. This paper also shows how human activities may magnify climate change impacts both locally and regionally. Land-use/land-cover change as the important sign of human-made destruction in an ecosystem was detected in the upstream of the Helmand basin over 40 years. Owing to conflicts in Afghanistan, studies on this basin are rare. The water bird’s habitat suitability maps during the study period were created using the maximum entropy model and the multi-criteria evaluation method. The post-classification method was applied to show the land-use/land-cover change over 40 years. These results were compared to the area of suitable habitat for water birds. The findings of these analyses indicated that the irrigated farming was expanded in the upstream despite climate change and water limitation, while the water birds’ habitat in the downstream was declined. These results revealed that the unsustainable pattern of farming and blocking water behind dams in the upstream exacerbated the negative effects of climate change on water birds’ habitat in the downstream. The significance of this study is to demonstrate the role of human in exacerbating climate change impacts both locally and regionally.

Water Birds as Indicators of Ecological Conditions in a Ramsar Wetland (Sebkhet Bazer, East of Algeria)

Background: Wetlands are the highly complex ecosystems due to various interactions between the components, where, the most iconic of ecological changes are the water birds. The current study was aimed to examine the interactions between the water birds diversity, abundance and the abiotic factors in Sebkhet Bazer. Methods: The investigation was conducted between March 2013 and December 2014 in Sebkhet Bazer (Sétif, Algeria, 36°05'N and 5°45'E), by monitoring water birds abundance (grouped into 4: Anatidae, Rallidae, Phoenicopteridae and Shorebirds) and measuring the physico-chemical water parameters (depth, temperature, pH, salinity and vegetation cover). All statistical analysis was performed using the InfoStat software (2017), it was carried out in two steps, by testing of fixed linear models; first of the seasonal differences in water body variables and second of the seasonal differences in bird abundance for the 4 water bird groups. Result: The results showed that the physico-chemical parameters of water varied considerably from season to season. The four groups of birds reached their lowest abundance in summer, with Rallidae and Phonicopteridae being more abundant in spring, Anatidae in winter and Shorebirds in autumn, suggesting that this variation is attributed to changes in water body characteristics between the four seasons. Therefore, the abundance of the different water bird group could be used as an ecological indicator of this wetland’s characteristics. If these features are altered by climate change, the water bird community would be also affected.

Study of Spatial Distribution of Greenhouse gases (methane gas) Over Iraq using Geostatistical Analysis

Wetlands are one of the most important natural resources on Earth. Marshes are important wintering and resting area for migratory water birds and other migratory birds. Historical data on bird migration in the Marshes suggest that they were one of the largest wintering areas for migratory water birds in the Middle East. The Iraqi marshlands lies in the floodplain which is created by the Tigris-Euphrates river system in the lower part Mesopotamia basin. The existence of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone in the troposphere makes surface of our planet habitable. The greenhouse gases absorb thermal radiation and also emit these wavelengths, making the mean surface temperature of the earth higher, and contribute to global warming. Human activities produce large amounts of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and others. Methane is produced by the decomposition of plants in wetlands. Geostatistical interpolation methods are adopted in this paper. We use the analyst in ArcGIS to apply cross-validation. The cross-validation calculate some criteria to insure the accuracy of predictions made using the ordinary kriging method. Maps were created for methane over Iraq. Cross validation errors were calculated using ArcGIS. The produced maps assure that lower Mesopotamian basin have high concentration of Methane gas which make it as a wintering and resting area for migratory water birds.

Vegetation Analysis of Kanewal Wetland, Gujarat

Wetland provides various plant species. These plants are use as food, fodder, timber, it is use as medicine, provide shelter for birds, as well as water-birds, migratory birds, local animals and human. Kanewal Wetland is an Irrigation Reservoir. Vegetation of Kanewal is very rich in diversity. Study shows presence of Different species of Angiosperms and pteridophytes. Vegetation analysis were done for year 2018-2019 for every season. Families of species are classified in to monocot and dicot. Many plant species grown there which is very important medicinally as well.

Viscous Drag Reduction and Contour Feather Geometry in Water and Land Birds

Water birds have contour feathers in contact with water that show in their distal one-third adaptations to water repellency, resistance to water penetration and forceful impact with water. These qualities vary according to their intimacy with open water. In this study, the geometry of this part of the feather was examined to detect additional features that would affect viscous drag in water. The length-to-width ratio was measured and used to calculate the viscous drag coefficients for 48 water birds and, for comparison, 12 land birds. The lowest values for the drag coefficient were observed for birds with foraging niches as diving and swimming, followed by plunging, surface feeding, aerial and ground feeding. Land birds with no open water in their habitat had the highest drag coefficients. Three statistical approaches were used to validate the results. Allowing for the phylogenetic relatedness of the 60 species obscured any significant differences that may exist, but a non-parametric analysis that does not assume the conditions of equal sample size and variance turned out to be the most appropriate method for our data set.