The Need for Future Wetland Bird Studies: Scales of Habitat use as Input for Ecological Restoration and Spatial Water Management

[摘要] AlloverEurope,wetlandshavedecreasedinsize,losttheiroriginaldynamicsandbecamefragmentedastheconsequenceofaneverincreasinghumanlanduse.Theseprocesseshaveresultedinlossesofnaturevalues,amongwhichdeclinesinmarshlandbirdpopulations.EcologicalrestorationofwetlandsystemsfollowsfrominitiativeslikeEUBirdandHabitatDirectivesandWaterFrameworkDirective,butmaybe,initself,toocostlytobewidelyapplied.MorepromisingperspectivestoreinforcethewetlandpartoftheecologicalnetworkNatura2000mightcomeintofocuswhencombinedwithspatialwatermanagementwhichisprimarilyaimedatmoresustainablesafetyagainstflooding.Inthisway,thewetlandnetworkmayacquireawiderpublicandpoliticalsupport.Knowledgeonscale-relatedhabitatuseofwetlandbirdscanplayaroleintheprocessofspatialplanning.Weillustratethispointbydistinguishingfourlevelsofspatialandtemporalhabitatusebywetlandbirds,andgivingexamplesforeach.Thefourlevelsare:(1)birdsonstopoversitesduringmigration,(2)territorialbreedingbirds,(3)colonialbreedingbirds,and(4)stagingbirdsonwinteringsites.Thisasksforecologicalcoherenceondifferentscales,e.g.ontheinternationallevelofmigrationflyways,ontheregionalleveloflandscapesandonthelocallevelofindividualwetlands.Itisadvocatedthatwetlandecologistsdedicatethemselvesmorespecificallytoquantifyingtherelevantdataonhabitatuseofbirdsoneachofthesescalelevels.Meanwhile,spatialplannersshouldtrytoincorporatethemintotheireffortsinrealisingcombinationsofecologicalrestorationorrehabilitationofwetlandsandsolutionsforsustainablewatermanagement.Thesecombinationsmightturnthetideforsomeseriouslythreatenedspeciesofmarshlandandwetlandbirds.

[学科分类] 动物科学

[关键词] Water Management