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Wetland Bird Response to Habitat Composition and Configuration at Multiple Spatial Scales

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Abstract

Wetlands loss has major consequences for biodiversity. The Delta of Paraná River is one of the largest wetland ecosystems in South America undergoing rapid conversion of freshwater marshes to pastures. We evaluated the response of nine wetland bird species to a gradient of landscape structure accounting for different levels of wetland loss in the Lower Delta, Argentina. We used point counts and a hierarchical distance sampling approach to assess the effects of wetland area, configuration, and land use on the density of species. Wetland area was the most important factor determining species density; most species responded positively at 100 m. The effect of wetland configuration varied among species; contiguous freshwater marsh area at 500 m only favored one species, whereas a large number of small patches of freshwater marsh benefited most species. Higher cattle density showed variable effects, and larger areas within polders reduced the density of two species. In the long term, wetland birds of the Lower Delta could decrease in density due to wetland loss and anthropogenic changes in the landscape. Our study shows the importance of considering the response of multiple species to landscape change at multiple scales and the need for a sustainable management of wetlands.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the people that participated in the field surveys specially Natalia Garcia, Natalia Denkiewicz, Evelyn Figueroa Schibber, and Ileana Martinez. We also thank Sebastian Dardanelli for his collaboration during the survey design. This study was financially supported by the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (PE 1128053 and 1128052), the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (PICTOCIN I 0022 and PIP 0092) and the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT Bicentenario 2227 and PICT 2017- 2982). We are also thankful to the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas for the doctoral fellowship that allowed the development of this study. We specially thank three anonymous reviewers for valuable comments and edits in previous versions of the manuscript.

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  1. Yanina V. Sica

    Present address: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 165 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Yanina V. Sica, Rubén D. Quintana & Gregorio I. Gavier-Pizarro

  2. Instituto de Investigación e Ingeniería Ambiental (3iA), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM), 25 de Mayo y Francia (1650), Gral. San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Yanina V. Sica & Rubén D. Quintana

  3. Estación Experimental Ing. Agr. Guillermo Covas, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Ruta 5 km. 580 (6326), Anguil, La Pampa, Argentina

    Jaime N. Bernardos

  4. Estación Experimental Paraná, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Ruta 11 km 12.7 (3101), Oro Verde, Entre Ríos, Argentina

    Noelia C. Calamari

  5. Instituto de Recursos Biológicos, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), De los 9 Reseros y Las Cabañas (HB1712WAA), Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Gregorio I. Gavier-Pizarro

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  1. Yanina V. Sica
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Sica, Y.V., Quintana, R.D., Bernardos, J.N. et al. Wetland Bird Response to Habitat Composition and Configuration at Multiple Spatial Scales. Wetlands 40, 2513–2525 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-019-01215-1

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