Journal
ESTUARINE COASTAL AND SHELF SCIENCE
Volume 125, Issue -, Pages 10-19Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecss.2013.03.005
Keywords
aquatic birds; aquatic plants; estuarine dynamics; habitat selection; temporarily open/closed; submerged macrophytes
Categories
Funding
- Water Research Commission
- South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity
- NRF Centre of Excellence Percy FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town
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Habitat composition was a major factor in determining waterbird species composition and abundance, particularly the area of floodplain and vegetated channel in four intermittently open estuaries (IOEs) in the warm-temperate coastal biogeographical region of South Africa. Average bird densities on the four estuaries varied from 0.5 to 4.2 birds per hectare, and community composition differed significantly between estuaries. However, the considerable variation in abundance of macrophytes did not have a detectable effect on waterbirds. Under closed mouth conditions, piscivorous birds dominated the avifauna. Each estuary's avifauna responded differently in terms of changes in feeding guild composition when the mouth opened. Bird abundance changed immediately after breaching, but not consistently. Diversity was significantly higher under open-mouth conditions for three of the four estuaries, and species composition was significantly different from that under closed-mouth conditions at all four estuaries. Changes in mouth dynamics as a result of climate change, water abstraction and artificial breaching could lead to significant changes in estuarine fauna. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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