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Sitting ducks: diet of wintering wildfowl in Lake Tonga, northeast Algeria

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Abstract

Dietary studies of five species of Anatidae (Gadwall Anas strepera, Shoveler Anas clypeata, Pochard Aythya ferina, Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca, and White-headed Duck Oxyura leucocephala) were carried out at Lake Tonga, northeast Algeria, from December 2011 to March 2012. Diet analysis of all five wintering species indicated a heavy reliance on seeds, which included a wide variety of aquatic plants, such as Myriophyllum spicatum, Ceratophyllum demersum, Sparganium erectum, Scirpus lacustris and Potamogeton pectinatus. Noteworthy is the paucity of ingested macroinvertebrates. Despite dietary overlap, the type, abundance and frequency of food consumed clearly indicated differences in resource use among the ducks. Incidentally, the study also highlighted the high vulnerability of threatened ducks to poaching (harvesting and disturbance) in a protected area. We discuss the implications of these findings for the management and conservation of wintering wildfowl and their North African habitats.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and are most indebted to A. Tamisier for his encouragements and gift of his seed collection. We are indebted to Francis Gilbert who read a previous version of the manuscript and made helpful suggestions. We also thank P. Legagneux for help with species identification. Access to the Tour du Valat’ library is gratefully acknowledged. This work was supported by the International Research Group Program (IRG16-29), Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the Algerian Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique (DGRSTD/M.E.S.R.S.).

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  1. Département d’écologie et du Génie de l’environnement, Faculté de la Nature et la Vie et de la Terre et l’Univers, University of Guelma, Guelma, Algeria

    Fethi Ayaichia & Farrah Samraoui

  2. Laboratoire de Conservation des Zones Humides, University of Guelma, Guelma, Algeria

    Fethi Ayaichia, Farrah Samraoui, Nedjwa Meziane & Boudjéma Samraoui

  3. Department of Animal Biology, University of Constantine, Constantine, Algeria

    Nasser Baaziz

  4. Department of Biology, University of Annaba, Annaba, Algeria

    Boudjéma Samraoui

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  1. Fethi Ayaichia
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  2. Farrah Samraoui
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  3. Nasser Baaziz
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  4. Nedjwa Meziane
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  5. Boudjéma Samraoui
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Correspondence to Boudjéma Samraoui.

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Ayaichia, F., Samraoui, F., Baaziz, N. et al. Sitting ducks: diet of wintering wildfowl in Lake Tonga, northeast Algeria. Wetlands Ecol Manage 26, 231–243 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-017-9567-6

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