Use of traditional salines by waders in the Mondego estuary (Portugal): a conservation perspective.

• Autor(a) principal: Múria, Tiago
• Data de Publicação: 2002
• Outros Autores: Cabral, João Alexandre, Lopes, Ricardo Jorge, Marques, João Carlos, Goss-Custard, John
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10348/4327
• topic: Feeding; Habitat loss; Management; Mondego estuary; Traditional salines; Waders

Use of traditional salines by waders in the Mondego estuary (Portugal): A conservation perspective. Traditional salines are important and threatened feeding habitats for migratory and wintering waders in most Mediterranean estuaries. The salines of Mondego estuary (Western Portugal) are among the last ones of this type in Portugal. They were used as feeding areas by 42% (over low-tide) to 71% (over high-tide) of all waders present in the estuary. Although most species showed a flexible response to the habitat’s heterogeneity, and can still use the salines for a long time after salt production has ceased, there was a strong tendency for salines that are still producing salt (‘active salines’) to be used more by waders than inactive or abandoned ones. The loss of feeding opportunities resulting from the abandonment of the salines could amount to a 90% loss of space and a 38% loss of feeding time for some species. If all the active, inactive and abandoned salines were to be totally removed, the extra number of bird feeding-hours that the remaining intertidal flats would have to provide would be an additional average of 37% of those that they provide at present, although varying across bird species from 0.5% to 90%. The loss of all the salines could therefore be detrimental, in the long-term, for several wader species.