publications
| Francesiaz C, Farine D, Laforge C, Béchet A, Nicolas S and Besnard A (2017), "Familiarity drives social philopatry in an obligate colonial breeder with weak interannual breeding-site fidelity", Animal Behaviour.
[BibTeX] |
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BibTeX:
@article{Francesiaz2017AB,
author = {Francesiaz, Charlotte and Farine, Damien and Laforge, Charlotte and Béchet, Arnaud and Sadoul Nicolas and Besnard, Aurélien},
title = {Familiarity drives social philopatry in an obligate colonial breeder with weak interannual breeding-site fidelity},
journal = {Animal Behaviour},
year = {2017}
}
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| Borghesi F, Enrico D, Migani F, Arnaud B, Rendón-Martos M, Amat JA, Sommer S and Gillingham MA (2016), "Assessing environmental pollution in birds: a new methodological approach for interpreting bioaccumulation of trace elements in feather shafts using geochemical sediment data", Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Wiley Online Library. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: 1. Environmental trace element composition can have an important impact on ecosystem and population health as well individual fitness. Therefore, carefully assessing bioaccumulation of trace elements is central to studies investigating the ecological impact of pollution. Colonial birds are important bioindicators since non-invasive sampling can easily be achieved through sampling of chick feathers, which controls for some confounding factors of variability (age and environmental heterogeneity). However, an additional confounding factor, external contamination (ExCo), which remains even after washing feathers, has frequently been overlooked in the literature. 2. We developed a new method to reliably interpret bioaccumulation of 10 trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn and Zn) in feathers using chicks of a colonial species: the Greater Flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus.First, only shafts were used to remove ExCo retained in vanes. Secondly, we applied a thorough washing procedure. Thirdly, we applied a new analytical method to control for ExCo, which assumes that ExCo is mainly due to adhered sediment particles and that the relative concentration of each trace element will be similar to the sediment geochemical composition of sampling sites. We validated this new methodology by comparing trace element composition and particle composition (by scanning electron microscopy and mass spectrometry) of washed and unwashed feathers. 3. The washing procedure removed >99% of K indicating that most of the ExCo from salt was removed. Scanning electron microscopy and mass spectrometry revealed that some sediment particles remained after washing, especially clays which are likely to severely bias bioaccumulation interpretation. We successfully controlled for ExCo by calculating the ratio of ExCo due to sediment using the geochemical fingerprint of sediment samples. Our methodology leads to conservative estimates of bioaccumulation for As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn and Zn. 4. We have validated a new more reliable method of analysing trace element concentrations in feathers, which effectively controls for ExCo, if geochemical sediment data can be meaningfully compared to ExCo of feathers. We have demonstrated that overlooking ExCo leads to potentially erroneous conclusions, and we urge that the method applied in this study be considered in future studies. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Borghesi2016MEE,
author = {Borghesi, Fabrizio and Enrico, Dinelli and Migani, Francesca and Arnaud, Béchet and Rendón-Martos, Manuel and Amat, Juan A and Sommer, Simone and Gillingham, Mark AF},
title = {Assessing environmental pollution in birds: a new methodological approach for interpreting bioaccumulation of trace elements in feather shafts using geochemical sediment data},
journal = {Methods in Ecology and Evolution},
publisher = {Wiley Online Library},
year = {2016}
}
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| Perrot C, Béchet A, Hanzen C, Arnaud A, Pradel R and Cézilly F (2016), "Sexual display complexity varies non-linearly with age and predicts breeding status in greater flamingos", Scientific reports.
[BibTeX] |
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BibTeX:
@article{Perrot2016SR,
author = {Charlotte Perrot and Arnaud Béchet and Céline Hanzen and Antoine Arnaud and Roger Pradel and Frank Cézilly},
title = {Sexual display complexity varies non-linearly with age and predicts breeding status in greater flamingos},
journal = {Scientific reports},
year = {2016}
}
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| Balkız Ö, Onmuş O.and Sıkı M, Döndürenc Ö.and Gül O, Arnaud A, Germain C, İsfendiyaroğlu S, Özbek M, Çağlayan E, Araç N, Parmak B, Özesmi U and Béchet A (2015), "Turkey as a crossroad for Greater Flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus: evidence from population trends and ring-resightings (Aves: Phoenicopteridae)", Zoology in the Middle East., June, 2015. Vol. 61(3), pp. 201-214. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: The Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus is a waterbird commonly found in sa-
line and brackish lagoons throughout the Mediterranean Region. We have gathered existing data on Greater Flamingos in Turkey and carried out field surveys to present the most up to date information on wintering (1999–2014) and breeding (1969– 2014). The wintering population of flamingos shows an increasing trend with 54,947±20,794 individuals mainly concentrated in the Gediz, Büyük Menderes and Çukurova deltas, respectively. Breeding attempts were recorded in at least seven wet- lands in Turkey in the past, yet after 1999 most of the colonies were abandoned due to basin scale intensive water management practices in Central Anatolia. Currently, only Tuz Lake and Gediz Delta are used as regular breeding sites, while breeding has been recorded sporadically in Acıgöl and Akşehir Lakes. The breeding colony of Tuz Lake is of prime importance at the Mediterranean scale, with the number of young chicks in 2011, 2012 and 2013 accounting for the highest number of fledglings in the Mediterranean Region and West Africa (18,418, 20,274 and 20,292 respectively). Fi- nally, building upon the previous findings about Turkey and the western Mediterra- nean metapopulation links, recent resightings of Turkish flamingos (despite the lim- ited numbers) confirm post-fledging and natal dispersal reaching the western Medi- terranean Basin and West Africa. Flamingos from Turkey were also found to disperse to Israel and to a region outside the known flyways of the western Mediterranean and West African flamingos (i.e. to Israel and UAE). Thus, Turkey, due to its geographic position, appears to be a crossroad between the western and eastern Mediterranean Region and southwest Asia. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Balkiz2015ZME,
author = {Balkız, Ö. and Onmuş, O.and Sıkı, M. and Döndürenc, Ö.and Gül, O. and Arnaud, A. and Germain, C. and İsfendiyaroğlu, S. and Özbek, M. and Çağlayan, E. and Araç, N. and Parmak, B. and Özesmi, U. and Béchet, A},
title = {Turkey as a crossroad for Greater Flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus: evidence from population trends and ring-resightings (Aves: Phoenicopteridae)},
journal = {Zoology in the Middle East},
year = {2015},
volume = {61},
number = {3},
pages = {201--214},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09397140.2015.1058452},
doi = {10.1080/09397140.2015.1058452}
}
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| Coreau A, Conversy P, Mermet L, Boisvert V, Bretagnolle V, Delay B, Gauthier O, Béchet A, Billé R, Déter J, Doré A, Doussan I, Dupouey M-A, Gosselin F, Halpern C, Jolivet S, Lecomte J, Lefeuvre C, Marty P, Michel C, Poinsot C, Séon-Massin N, Tatoni T, Thevenin E and Touroult J (2015), "Quelles questions émergentes pour les politiques publiques de biodiversité en France métropolitaine ? Résultats et perspectives", Natures Sciences Sociétés. Vol. 23, pp. 266-274. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: An horizon scan of emerging issues for biodiversity policies in France: results and
perspectives. Because drivers and pressures on biodiversity, societal expectations, and ecological knowledge evolve rapidly, biodiversity conservation policies need to adapt continuously. Anticipating such changes can however be difficult given the profusion and complexity of data and when signals indicating future risks and opportunities may be weak. To tackle this challenge, the French Environment ministry asked a research team at AgroParisTech to develop a new method for identifying emerging issues for biodiversity policies by 2020 in France (except for overseas territories). This project, called BioPIQuE 2013, involved both scientists and stakeholders in an interdisciplinary assessment. As a result, 25 emerging issues were identified, among which 10 issues were highlighted for their strategic interest. A majority of these issues are current trends not yet taken into account by biodiversity policies (such as “why do we have to and how can we improve our ability to restore – with ambitious biodiversity objectives – urbanised and highly degraded areas?”), and a few of them are weak signals (such as “how can we deal with trade-offs and conflicts between biodiversity policies and other environmental policies?”). All stakeholders, including researchers, NGOs, public administrations, private companies and politicians, can find in the results some inputs for developing their biodiversity conservation strategies. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Coreau2015NSS,
author = {Coreau, Audrey and Conversy, Pauline and Mermet, Laurent and Boisvert, Valérie and Bretagnolle, Vincent and Delay, Bernard and Gauthier, Odile and Béchet, Arnaud and Billé, Raphaël and Déter, Julie and Doré, Antoine and Doussan, Isabelle and Dupouey, Marie-Agnès and Gosselin, Frédéric and Halpern, Charlotte and Jolivet, Samuel and Lecomte, Jane and Lefeuvre, Cyrille and Marty, Pascal and Michel, Charlotte and Poinsot, Claire and Séon-Massin, Nirmala and Tatoni, Thierry and Thevenin, Emmanuel and Touroult, Julien},
title = {Quelles questions émergentes pour les politiques publiques de biodiversité en France métropolitaine ? Résultats et perspectives},
journal = {Natures Sciences Sociétés},
year = {2015},
volume = {23},
pages = {266-274},
url = {http://www.nss-journal.org/10.1051/nss/2015047},
doi = {10.1051/nss/2015047}
}
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| Gillingham MA, Courtiol A, Teixeira M, Galan M, Béchet A and Cézilly F (2015), "Evidence of gene orthology and trans-species polymorphism, but not of parallel evolution, despite high levels of concerted evolution in the major histocompatibility complex of flamingo species", Journal of evolutionary biology. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a cornerstone in the study
of adaptive genetic diversity. Intriguingly, highly polymorphic MHC sequences are often not more similar within species than between closely related species. Divergent selection of gene duplicates, balancing selection maintaining trans-species polymorphism (TSP) that predate speciation and parallel evolution of species sharing similar selection pressures can all lead to higher sequence similarity between species. In contrast, high rates of con- certed evolution increase sequence similarity of duplicated loci within spe- cies. Assessing these evolutionary models remains difficult as relatedness and ecological similarities are often confounded. As sympatric species of flamingos are more distantly related than allopatric species, flamingos repre- sent an ideal model to disentangle these evolutionary models. We character- ized MHC Class I exon 3, Class IIB exon 2 and exon 3 of the six extant flamingo species. We found up to six MHC Class I loci and two MHC Class IIB loci. As all six species shared the same number of MHC Class IIB loci, duplication appears to predate flamingo speciation. However, the high rate of concerted evolution has prevented the divergence of duplicated loci. We found high sequence similarity between all species regardless of codon posi- tion. The latter is consistent with balancing selection maintaining TSP, as under this mechanism amino acid sites under pathogen-mediated selection should be characterized by fewer synonymous codons (due to their common ancestry) than under parallel evolution. Overall, balancing selection main- taining TSP appears to result in high MHC similarity between species regard- less of species relatedness and geographical distribution. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Gillingham2015JEB,
author = {Gillingham, Mark AF and Courtiol, Alexandre and Teixeira, Maria and Galan, Maxime and Béchet, Arnaud and Cézilly, Frank},
title = {Evidence of gene orthology and trans-species polymorphism, but not of parallel evolution, despite high levels of concerted evolution in the major histocompatibility complex of flamingo species},
journal = {Journal of evolutionary biology},
year = {2015}
}
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| Meineri E, Deville A-S, Gremillet D, Gauthier-Clerc M and Béchet A (2015), "Combining correlative and mechanistic habitat suitability models to improve ecological compensation", Biological Reviews. Vol. 90, pp. 314-329. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Only a few studies have shown positive impacts of ecological compensation on species dynamics affected by
human activities. We argue that this is due to inappropriate methods used to forecast required compensation in environmental impact assessments. These assessments are mostly descriptive and only valid at limited spatial and temporal scales. However, habitat suitability models developed to predict the impacts of environmental changes on potential species’ distributions should provide rigorous science-based tools for compensation planning. Here we describe the two main classes of predictive models: correlative models and individual-based mechanistic models. We show how these models can be used alone or synoptically to improve compensation planning. While correlative models are easier to implement, they tend to ignore underlying ecological processes and lack accuracy. On the contrary, individual-based mechanistic models can integrate biological interactions, dispersal ability and adaptation. Moreover, among mechanistic models, those considering animal energy balance are particularly efficient at predicting the impact of foraging habitat loss. However, mechanistic models require more field data compared to correlative models. Hence we present two approaches which com- bine both methods for compensation planning, especially in relation to the spatial scale considered. We show how the availability of biological databases and software enabling fast and accurate population projections could be advantageously used to assess ecological compensation requirement efficiently in environmental impact assessments. |
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BibTeX:
@article{MeineriDeville2014BR,
author = {Eric Meineri and Anne-Sophie Deville and David Gremillet and Michel Gauthier-Clerc and Arnaud Béchet},
title = {Combining correlative and mechanistic habitat suitability models to improve ecological compensation},
journal = {Biological Reviews},
year = {2015},
volume = {90},
pages = {314-329},
doi = {doi: 10.1111/brv.12111}
}
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| Moreno-Mateos D, Maris V, Béchet A and Curran M (2015), "The true loss caused by biodiversity offsets", Biological Conservation. Vol. OnlineFirst | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Biodiversity offsets aim to achieve a “no-net-loss” of biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services due to
development. The “no-net-less” objective assumes that the multi-dimensional values of biodiversity in complex ecosystems can be isolated from their spatial, evolutionary, historical, social, and moral context. We examine the irreplaceability of ecosystems, the limits of restoration, and the environmental values that claim to be compensated through ecosystem restoration. We discuss multiple ecological, instrumental, and non- instrumental values of ecosystems that should be considered in offsetting calculations. Considering this range of values, we summarize the multiple ecological, regulatory, and ethical losses that are often dismissed when evaluatingoffsetsandthe“no-net-loss”objective.Giventherisksthatbiodiversityoffsetsposeinbypassing strict regulations,erodingourmoralresponsibilitytoprotectnature,andembracingmisplacedtechnologicaloptimism relating to ecosystem restoration, we argue that offsets cannot fulfil their promise to resolve the trade-off between development and conservation. If compensation for biodiversity loss is unavoidable, as it may well be, these losses must be made transparent and adequate reparation must embrace socio-ecological uncertainty, for example through a Multi-Criteria Evaluation framework. Above all, strict protection legislation should be strengthened rather than watered down as is the current trend. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Moreno-Mateos2015BC,
author = {Moreno-Mateos, David and Maris, Virginie and Béchet, Arnaud and Curran, Michael},
title = {The true loss caused by biodiversity offsets},
journal = {Biological Conservation},
year = {2015},
volume = {OnlineFirst}
}
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| Béchet A and Olivier A (2014), "Cossure : un exemple à ne pas suivre ? Regards critiques sur la première expérience de compensation par l’offre initiée en France", Le courrier de la nature. (284), pp. 40-45. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Bechet2014CN,
author = {Arnaud Béchet and Anthony Olivier},
title = {Cossure : un exemple à ne pas suivre ? Regards critiques sur la première expérience de compensation par l’offre initiée en France},
journal = {Le courrier de la nature},
year = {2014},
number = {284},
pages = {40-45}
}
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| Deville A-S, Labaude S, Robin J-P, Béchet A, Gauthier-Clerc M, Porter W, Fitzpatrick M, Mathewson P and Grémillet D (2014), "Impacts of extreme climatic events on the energetics of long-lived vertebrates: the case of the greater flamingo facing cold spells in the Camargue", The Journal of Experimental Biology. Vol. 217(20), pp. 3700-3707. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Most studies analyzing the effects of global warming on wild populations focus on gradual temperature changes, yet it is also important to understand the impact of extreme climatic events. Here we studied the effect of two cold spells (January 1985 and February 2012) on the energetics of greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) in the Camargue (southern France). To understand the cause of observed flamingo mass mortalities, we first assessed the energy stores of flamingos found dead in February 2012, and compared them with those found in other bird species exposed to cold spells and/or fasting. Second, we evaluated the monthly energy requirements of flamingos across 1980–2012 using the mechanistic model Niche Mapper™. Our results show that the body lipids of flamingos found dead in 2012 corresponded to 2.6±0.3% of total body mass, which is close to results found in woodcocks (Scolopax rusticola) that died from starvation during a cold spell (1.7±0.1%), and much lower than in woodcocks which were fed throughout this same cold spell (13.0±2%). Further, Niche Mapper™ predicted that flamingo energy requirements were highest (+6–7%) during the 1985 and 2012 cold spells compared with ‘normal’ winters. This increase was primarily driven by cold air temperatures. Overall, our findings strongly suggest that flamingos starved to death during both cold spells. This study demonstrates the relevance of using mechanistic energetics modelling and body condition analyses to understand and predict the impact of extreme climatic events on animal energy balance and winter survival probabilities. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Deville2014JEB,
author = {Deville, Anne-Sophie and Labaude, Sophie and Robin, Jean-Patrice and Béchet, Arnaud and Gauthier-Clerc, Michel and Porter, Warren and Fitzpatrick, Megan and Mathewson, Paul and Grémillet, David},
title = {Impacts of extreme climatic events on the energetics of long-lived vertebrates: the case of the greater flamingo facing cold spells in the Camargue},
journal = {The Journal of Experimental Biology},
year = {2014},
volume = {217},
number = {20},
pages = {3700-3707},
url = {http://jeb.biologists.org/content/217/20/3700.abstract},
doi = {10.1242/jeb.106344}
}
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| Ernoul L, Mesléard F, Gaubert P and Béchet A (2014), "Limits to agri-environmental schemes uptake to mitigate human–wildlife conflict: lessons learned from Flamingos in the Camargue, southern France", International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability. Vol. 12(1), pp. 23-36. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Agri-environment schemes (AES) favouring the maintenance of hedges were implemented in
the Camargue (southern France) as it has previously been proven to reduce the risk of damage caused by Greater Flamingo incursions into rice fields. Given the persistent incursions, we estimated the economic cost of damage from 2007 to 2009, the uptake rate of hedge-related AES and explored the limits of these schemes as a mitigation effort. Semi-structured and key informant interviews, site mapping and field visits were made to verify claims and estimate damage. Number of plants/m 2 and fertile stems/plant were estimated on 1,498 and 312 grids, respectively, spread over 26 rice fields. Damaged areas of rice fields forayed by flamingos presented from 1.35 to 3.06 t/ha lower yield than undamaged areas. We estimated 228E/ha average loss in forayed fields for a total of 400,000E in yield loss in 2008. Administrative constraints limited AES and free seedlings distribution, preventing the problem from being addressed at an appropriate scale. The trivial financial support for hedge management relative to more lucrative AES with lower constraints resulted in low uptake rate. We propose that modifications of AES take into account landscape factors over administrative boundaries and that the financial support for AES be scaled up relative to other subsidies in order to address the efforts necessary to achieve landscape changes to reduce human–wildlife conflict. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Ernoul2013IJAS,
author = {Lisa Ernoul and François Mesléard and Pascal Gaubert and Arnaud Béchet},
title = {Limits to agri-environmental schemes uptake to mitigate human–wildlife conflict: lessons learned from Flamingos in the Camargue, southern France},
journal = {International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability},
year = {2014},
volume = {12},
number = {1},
pages = {23-36},
doi = {10.1080/14735903.2013.798897}
}
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| Ficheux S, Olivier A, Fay R, Crivelli A, Besnard A and Béchet A (2014), "Rapid response of a long-lived species to improved water and grazing management:The case of the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) in the Camargue, France", Journal for Nature Conservation. Vol. 22(4), pp. 342-348. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Among human activities, the effect of habitat management by grazing on population viability is ambiguous. Indeed, beneficial effects of grazing are expected by maintaining open meadows, but overgrazing is supposed to increase mortality by trampling. Grazing has been shown to negatively impact the survival of European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) in the Camargue. Consequently, a new management plan was defined. We investigated the consequences of this management using capture–recapture methods to estimate variations of population sizes in this managed site and a control site over a 17 years period. Results show an increase of the number of adults and juveniles on the managed site after the management change. Our results suggest that improved water management with flooding in autumn provided better hibernation conditions, and that reduced grazing intensity in autumn/winter likely decreased the risk of trampling. Population size significantly increased in less than 4 years following the management change, probably by the relaxation of density-dependence. It is an original result for a long lived-species supposed to have an important time of resilience to perturbations. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Ficheux2014JFC,
author = {Sébastien Ficheux and Anthony Olivier and Rémi Fay and Alain Crivelli and Aurélien Besnard and Arnaud Béchet},
title = {Rapid response of a long-lived species to improved water and grazing management:The case of the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) in the Camargue, France},
journal = {Journal for Nature Conservation},
year = {2014},
volume = {22},
number = {4},
pages = {342-348},
doi = {10.1016/j.jnc.2014.03.001}
}
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| Hamza F, Hammouda A, Chokri MA, Béchet A and Selmi S (2014), "Distribution et abondance du flamant rose Phoenicopterus roseus hivernant dans la zone centrale du Golfe de Gabès (Tunisie)", Alauda. Vol. 82(2), pp. 135-142. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Hamza2014ALAUDA,
author = {Foued Hamza and Abdessalem Hammouda and Mohamed Ali Chokri and Arnaud Béchet and Slaheddine Selmi},
title = {Distribution et abondance du flamant rose Phoenicopterus roseus hivernant dans la zone centrale du Golfe de Gabès (Tunisie)},
journal = {Alauda},
year = {2014},
volume = {82},
number = {2},
pages = {135-142}
}
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| Wyss F, Wolf P, Wenker C, Hoby S, Schumacher V, Béchet A, Robert N and Liesegang A (2014), "Comparison of plasma vitamin A and E, copper and zinc levels in free-ranging and captive greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) and their relation to pododermatitis", Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition. Vol. 98(6), pp. 1102-1109. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Pododermatitis is a worldwide problem in captive flamingos. Studies in domestic poultry showed that nutrition is a possible influencing factor for pododermatitis. Vitamin A and E, copper and zinc levels were analysed in two different diets (diet 1 = in-house mix and diet 2 = commercial diet) and in plasma of captive greater flamingos fed these diets and compared to those of free-ranging greater flamingos. Results were analysed with respect to type and severity of foot lesions of the individuals from the different groups. Juvenile and subadult/adult captive flamingos on diet 1 showed various types and severities of foot lesions, whereas no foot lesions were found at the time of blood sampling in juvenile captive flamingos on diet 2. Juvenile captive flamingos on diet 1 had significantly lower plasma zinc levels than juvenile captive flamingos on diet 2 and juvenile free-ranging flamingos; data were also lower than reference ranges for flamingos, poultry and cranes. There were no significant differences in plasma vitamin A, vitamin E, copper or zinc levels between animals with different types of foot lesions or with different severity scores. Shortly after the change to diet 2 (fed to juvenile captive flamingos that did not show any foot lesion), the flooring of the outdoor water pools was covered with fine granular sand. Because both factors (nutrition and flooring) were changed during the same evaluation period, it cannot be concluded which factor contributed in what extent to the reduction of foot lesions. While it is assumed that low plasma zinc levels identified in the group of juvenile captive flamingos on diet 1 were not directly responsible for foot lesions observed in these animals, they may have played a role in altering the skin integrity of the feet and predisposing them to pododermatitis. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Wyss2014JAPAN,
author = {Wyss, F. and Wolf, P. and Wenker, C. and Hoby, S. and Schumacher, V. and Béchet, A. and Robert, N. and Liesegang, A.},
title = {Comparison of plasma vitamin A and E, copper and zinc levels in free-ranging and captive greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) and their relation to pododermatitis},
journal = {Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition},
year = {2014},
volume = {98},
number = {6},
pages = {1102--1109},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpn.12184},
doi = {10.1111/jpn.12184}
}
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| Deville A-S, Grémillet D, Gauthier-Clerc M, Guillemain M, Von Houwald F, Gardelli B and Béchet A (2013), "Non-linear feeding functional responses in the Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) predict immediate negative impact of wetland degradation on this flagship species", Ecology and Evolution. Vol. 3(5), pp. 1413-1425. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Accurate knowledge of the functional response of predators to prey density is essential for understanding food web dynamics, to parameterize mechanistic models of animal responses to environmental change, and for designing appropriate conservation measures. Greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus), a flagship species of Mediterranean wetlands, primarily feed on Artemias (Artemia spp.) in commercial salt pans, an industry which may collapse for economic reasons. Flamingos also feed on alternative prey such as Chironomid larvae (e.g., Chironomid spp.) and rice seeds (Oryza sativa). However, the profitability of these food items for flamingos remains unknown. We determined the functional responses of flamingos feeding on Artemias, Chironomids, or rice. Experiments were conducted on 11 captive flamingos. For each food item, we offered different ranges of food densities, up to 13 times natural abundance. Video footage allowed estimating intake rates. Contrary to theoretical predictions for filter feeders, intake rates did not increase linearly with increasing food density (type I). Intake rates rather increased asymptotically with increasing food density (type II) or followed a sigmoid shape (type III). Hence, flamingos were not able to ingest food in direct proportion to their abundance, possibly because of unique bill structure resulting in limited filtering capabilities. Overall, flamingos foraged more efficiently on Artemias. When feeding on Chironomids, birds had lower instantaneous rates of food discovery and required more time to extract food from the sediment and ingest it, than when filtering Artemias from the water column. However, feeding on rice was energetically more profitable for flamingos than feeding on Artemias or Chironomids, explaining their attraction for rice fields. Crucially, we found that food densities required for flamingos to reach asymptotic intake rates are rarely met under natural conditions. This allows us to predict an immediate negative effect of any decrease in prey density upon flamingo foraging performance. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Deville2013EE,
author = {Deville, Anne-Sophie and Grémillet, David and Gauthier-Clerc, Michel and Guillemain, Matthieu and Von Houwald, Friederike and Gardelli, Bruno and Béchet, Arnaud},
title = {Non-linear feeding functional responses in the Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) predict immediate negative impact of wetland degradation on this flagship species},
journal = {Ecology and Evolution},
year = {2013},
volume = {3},
number = {5},
pages = {1413-1425},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.554},
doi = {10.1002/ece3.554}
}
|
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| Doxa A, Besnard A, Béchet A, Pin C, Lebreton J-D and Sadoul N (2013), "Inferring dispersal dynamics from local population demographic modelling: the case of the slender-billed gull in France", Animal Conservation. Vol. 16(6), pp. 684-693. Wiley Online Library. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Although it is today accepted that population viability analyses are needed at a meta-population level for most species, usually only single populations are moni-
tored in the context of management and conservation programmes. This paper outlines a fairly general and easy-to-implement approach based on counts and capture–recapture data that allow the dynamics of single populations to be assessed even when they are highly connected to other populations. This approach was motivated by a study of the French population of the slender-billed gull Larus genei, which experienced a sharp population increase in the 1980s and 1990s, suggesting that the species was not at risk of extinction. However, several recently raised concerns indicate that the observed population increase is unlikely to have been achieved uniquely by an intrinsic growth rate. We estimated local adult survival probability at 0.81 (0.79–0.83), which is considerably lower than that of other gull species of comparable size. Moreover, local fecundity observed in slender-billed gulls [0.66 (0.47–0.85)] is lower than that observed in similar species. Massive reproduction failures and the low demographic parameters observed could be caused by chick exposure to aerial and terrestrial predation, leading to permanent emigration. Unrealistically high demographic parameter values would be needed to generate the observed local population increase. The results of our study indicate that connections with other neighbouring populations are responsible for the local population dynamics, and that about 10% of the individuals may be immigrants into this local population annually. However, our results suggest that the population of the slender-billed gull may be stable at the west Mediter- ranean scale. The high annual fluctuations of population size observed at a larger scale also highlight the necessity for coordinated international action to protect a maximum of potential breeding sites in order to protect the species. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Doxa2013AC,
author = {Doxa, A and Besnard, A and Béchet, A and Pin, C and Lebreton, J-D and Sadoul, N},
title = {Inferring dispersal dynamics from local population demographic modelling: the case of the slender-billed gull in France},
journal = {Animal Conservation},
publisher = {Wiley Online Library},
year = {2013},
volume = {16},
number = {6},
pages = {684-693}
}
|
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| Gillingham MA, Cézilly F, Wattier R and Béchet A (2013), "Evidence for an Association between Post-Fledging Dispersal and Microsatellite Multilocus Heterozygosity in a Large Population of Greater Flamingos", PloS one. Vol. 8(11), pp. e81118. Public Library of Science. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Dispersal can be divided into three stages: departure, transience and settlement. Despite the fact that theoretical studies have emphasized the importance of heterozygosity on dispersal strategies, empirical evidence of its effect on different stages of dispersal is lacking. Here, using multi-event capture-mark-recapture models, we show a negative association between microsatellite multilocus heterozygosity (MLH; 10 loci; n=1023) and post-fledging dispersal propensity for greater
flamingos, Phoenicopterus roseus, born in southern France. We propose that the negative effects of inbreeding depression affects competitive ability and therefore more homozygous individuals are more likely to disperse because they are less able to compete within the highly saturated natal site. Finally, a model with the effect of MLH on propensity of post-fledgling dispersers to disperse to the long-distance sites of Africa was equivalent to the null model, suggesting that MLH had low to no effect on dispersal distance. Variations in individual genetic quality thus result in context-dependent heterogeneity in dispersal strategies at each stage of dispersal. Our results have important implications on fitness since sites visited early in life are known to influence site selection later on in life and future survival. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Gillingham2013PLOSONE,
author = {Gillingham, Mark AF and Cézilly, Frank and Wattier, Rémi and Béchet, Arnaud},
title = {Evidence for an Association between Post-Fledging Dispersal and Microsatellite Multilocus Heterozygosity in a Large Population of Greater Flamingos},
journal = {PloS one},
publisher = {Public Library of Science},
year = {2013},
volume = {8},
number = {11},
pages = {e81118}
}
|
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| Wyss F, Wenker S, Hoby B, Gardelli A, Studer-Thiersch F, Von Houwald V, Schumacher M, Clauss M, Doherr W, Häfeli S, Furrer A, Béchet A. and Robert N (2013), "Factors influencing the onset and progression of pododermatitis in captive flamingos (Phoenicopteridae)", Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde (SAT). Vol. 155(9), pp. 497-503. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Wyss2013SAT,
author = {Wyss, F.C. and Wenker, S. and Hoby, B. and Gardelli, A. and Studer-Thiersch, F. and Von Houwald, V. and Schumacher, M. and Clauss, M.G. and Doherr, W. and Häfeli, S. and Furrer, A. and Béchet, A., and Robert, N.},
title = {Factors influencing the onset and progression of pododermatitis in captive flamingos (Phoenicopteridae)},
journal = {Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde (SAT)},
year = {2013},
volume = {155},
number = {9},
pages = {497-503}
}
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| Béchet A, Rendón-Martos M, Rendón MA, Amat JA, Johnson AR and Gauthier-Clerc M (2012), "Global economy interacts with climate change to jeopardize species conservation : a case study in the Greater flamingo in the Mediterranean and West Africa", Environmental Conservation. Vol. 39, pp. 1-3. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Bechet2012,
author = {Arnaud Béchet and Manuel Rendón-Martos and Miguel Angel Rendón and Juan Aguilar Amat and Alan R. Johnson and Michel Gauthier-Clerc},
title = {Global economy interacts with climate change to jeopardize species conservation : a case study in the Greater flamingo in the Mediterranean and West Africa},
journal = {Environmental Conservation},
year = {2012},
volume = {39},
pages = {1-3}
}
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| Béchet A (2012), "Comptes rendus du colloque « Écologie de la restauration et développement durable. Dépasser les frontières » Avignon, 23-27 août 2010.", Natures Sciences et Sociétés. Vol. 20, pp. 100-103. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Bechet2012NSS,
author = {Arnaud Béchet},
title = {Comptes rendus du colloque « Écologie de la restauration et développement durable. Dépasser les frontières » Avignon, 23-27 août 2010.},
journal = {Natures Sciences et Sociétés},
year = {2012},
volume = {20},
pages = {100-103}
}
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| Cayuela H, Besnard A, Béchet A, Devictor V and Olivier A (2012), "Reproductive dynamics of three amphibian species in Mediterranean wetlands: the role of local precipitation and hydrological regimes", Freshwater Biology. Vol. 57, pp. 2629-2640. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: 1. Although the influence of water availability and precipitation regimes on amphibians has been studied at large scales, whether and how interannual rainfall and hydrological variations affect amphibians dynamics at a local scale have rarely been addressed. In this respect, accounting for variations in species detectability in space and time has also been overlooked.
2. We assessed the effects of rainfall and hydrological variations on the breeding dynamics of three amphibian taxa: Pelodytes punctatus, Hyla meridionalis and Pelophylax spp. in 20 ponds of the Camargue region (southern France) over a 7-year study period. 3. We used multiple season occupancy models to test the effect of winter–spring rainfall and interannual variations in hydroperiod, mean water depth and drought events on tadpole presence in spring (March–June), a proxy for breeding dynamics. 4. We used an independent survey with spatial replicates (dipnet sweeps) to disentangle the relative contributions of phenology and detectability to the absence of records in a given month. For the three taxa considered, the probability of missing a species when that species was actually present in a pond was most often negligible. Hence, we could consider that multiseason models properly tracked changes in species phenology. 5. Pelodytes punctatus was first detected in March, while the two other taxa appeared later in April. Hyla meridionalis appeared as a mid-season species with much more synchronous pond occupancy than Pelodytes punctatus. The detection peak of Pelophylax spp. was short and unexpectedly early for this taxon. 6. Seasonal winter–spring rainfall was associated with a decrease in extinction rates and even more strongly with an increase in colonisation rates at individual ponds. 7. Colonisation rate increased following an annual drought and was best modelled as a negative quadratic effect of the variance of pond hydroperiod. Extinction probability was best modelled by a negative quadratic effect of mean water level. Hence, breeding was more stochastic (i) in unpredictable and shallow ponds because of yearly drying up and (ii) in highly predictable and deep ponds, possibly due to the presence of predators such as fish and crayfish. 8. Overall, we show that ponds with intermediate rather than extreme variations in environmental conditions currently correspond to optimal breeding sites. Our study demonstrates that amphibian monitoring coupled with fine-scale analysis of environmental conditions is necessary to understand species dynamics in the long run and to inform conservation efforts for these species. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Cayuela2012,
author = {Hugo Cayuela and Aurélien Besnard and Arnaud Béchet and Vincent Devictor and Anthony Olivier},
title = {Reproductive dynamics of three amphibian species in Mediterranean wetlands: the role of local precipitation and hydrological regimes},
journal = {Freshwater Biology},
year = {2012},
volume = {57},
pages = {2629-2640}
}
|
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| Ernoul L, Mesléard F and Béchet A (2012), "Diagnostique de l'échec de la contractualisation des mesures agri-environnementales pour réduire les incursions de flamants dans les rizières de Camargue", Vertigo. Vol. 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Les incursions des flamants roses dans les rizières de Camargue ne concernent que quelques pourcentages de la sole rizicole, néanmoins les dégâts occasionnés ponctuellement peuvent être conséquents et nécessiter un re-semis complet des parcelles touchées. Le rôle dissuasif de la présence de haies sur la venue des flamants ayant été démontré, un contrat visant à indemniser l’entretien des haies autour des rizières a été proposé dans le cadre des Mesures-
Agri-Environnementales (MAE). Pour autant, très peu de riziculteurs ont souscrit à ce contrat. Nous montrons que ce faible taux de contractualisation s’explique par la restriction des MAE aux périmètres du Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue et Natura 2000, et par le fait que la présence et l’entretien des haies sont perçus par la majorité des riziculteurs comme incompatibles avec les pratiques culturales intensives. Afin que soient opérés les changements paysagers nécessaires à la réduction des dommages, les MAE devront mieux prendre en compte la zone affectée et les subventions correspondent davantage aux coûts financiers. Ce mesures ne seraient seules suffire. Il paraît également nécessaire de s’appuyer sur des riziculteurs clés dans leur démarche. Flamingo forays in the Camargue rice fields only affect a small percentage of the surface area ; however, the damage incurred in the individual fields can be important and may even require the entire area to be replanted. Previous research has demonstrated hedges around rice fields could reduce the attractiveness of the fields for flamingos. In consequence, Agri-environmental Schemes (AES) were proposed to compensate farmers for hedge maintenance. These AES have not been contracted in great numbers and few new hedges have been established in the study area. We demonstrate that the lack of contractualisation can be explained by several factors : the administrative limits of the AES, the poor financial compensation for the measures and the perceived incompatibility of hedges with current agricultural practices. In order to promote the landscape changes necessary to reduce flamingo forays, we propose that the current AES be extended to cover the territory affected by the incursions and be reformulated to take into consideration the time and effort necessary for farmers to produce these changes. The AES alone may not be sufficient and a pilot farmer approach linked to AES could be a possible tool to spur the change in practices required in the Camargue. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Ernoul2012,
author = {Lisa Ernoul and François Mesléard and Arnaud Béchet},
title = {Diagnostique de l'échec de la contractualisation des mesures agri-environnementales pour réduire les incursions de flamants dans les rizières de Camargue},
journal = {Vertigo},
year = {2012},
volume = {12},
url = {http://vertigo.revues.org/12112}
}
|
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| Geraci J, Béchet A, Cézilly F, Ficheux S, Baccetti N, Samraoui B and Wattier R (2012), "Greater flamingo colonies around the Mediterranean form a single interbreeding population and share a common history", Journal of Avian Biology. Vol. 43, pp. 341-354. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Th e greater fl amingo Phoenicopterus roseus is a long-lived colonial waterbird species, characterized by a large range encompassing three continents, a very limited number of breeding sites, and high dispersal abilities. We investigated both the phylogeographic history and the contemporary extent of genetic diff erentiation between eight diff erent Mediterranean breeding colonies of greater fl amingos sampled between 1995 and 2009, using both mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite
markers. We found no signifi cant diff erences in allelic richness or private allelic richness in relation to colony size. Overall, no genetic population diff erentiation was detected using either mitochondrial or microsatellite markers. F-statistics and Bayesian clustering methods did not support any signifi cant genetic structure. Analysis of both mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites indicated that populations have undergone a bottleneck followed by rapid growth and expansion. The average time since expansion was estimated to be 696 421 yr (90% CI: 526 316 – 1 131 579 yr). We discuss our results in relation to both the possible historical events accounting for the present genetic structure and relevance to conservation and management of the species. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Geraci2012,
author = {Julia Geraci and Arnaud Béchet and Frank Cézilly and Sébastien Ficheux and Nicola Baccetti and Boudjema Samraoui and Rémi Wattier},
title = {Greater flamingo colonies around the Mediterranean form a single interbreeding population and share a common history},
journal = {Journal of Avian Biology},
year = {2012},
volume = {43},
pages = {341-354}
}
|
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| Gillingham MAF, Béchet A, Geraci J, Wattier R, Dubreuil C and Cézilly F (2012), "Genetic polymorphism in dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) affects early body condition in a large population of greater flamingos, Phoenicopterus roseus.", Molecular Ecology. Vol. 21, pp. 4024-4037. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Body condition is an important determinant of fitness in many natural populations. However, as for many fitness traits, the underlying genes that regulate body condition remain elusive. The dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4) is a promising candidate as dopamine is known to play an important role in the regulation of food intake and the metabolism of both glucose and lipids in vertebrates. In this study, we take advantage of a large data set of greater flamingos, Phoenicopterus roseus, to test whether DRD4 polymorphism predicts early body condition (EBC) while controlling for whole-genome effects of inbreeding and outbreeding using microsatellite multilocus heterozygosity (MLH). We typed 670 of these individuals for exon 3 of the homologue of the human DRD4 gene and 10 microsatellite markers. When controlling for the effects of yearly environmental variations and differences between sexes, we found strong evidence of an association between exon 3 DRD4 polymorphisms and EBC, with 2.2–2.3% of the variation being explained by DRD4 polymorphism, whereas there was only weak evidence that MLH predicts EBC. Because EBC is most likely a polygenic trait, this is a considerable amount of variation explained by a single gene. This is to our knowledge, the first study to show an association between exon 3 DRD4 polymorphism and body condition in non-human animals. We anticipate that the DRD4 gene as well as other genes coding for neurotransmitters and their receptors may play an important role in explaining variation in traits that affect fitness. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Gillingham2012ME,
author = {Mark A. F. Gillingham and Arnaud Béchet and Julia Geraci and Rémi Wattier and Christine Dubreuil and Frank Cézilly},
title = {Genetic polymorphism in dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) affects early body condition in a large population of greater flamingos, Phoenicopterus roseus.},
journal = {Molecular Ecology},
year = {2012},
volume = {21},
pages = {4024-4037}
}
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| Pradel R, Choquet R and Béchet A (2012), "Breeding Experience Might Be a Major Determinant of Breeding Probability in Long-Lived Species: The Case of the Greater Flamingo", PLoS ONE., 12, 2012. Vol. 7(12), pp. e51016. Public Library of Science. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: The probability of breeding is known to increase with age early in life in many long-lived species. This increase may be due to experience accumulated through past breeding attempts. Recent methodological advances allowing accounting for unobserved breeding episodes, we analyzed the encounter histories of 14716 greater flamingos over 25 years to get a detailed picture of the interactions of age and experience. Survival did not improve with experience, seemingly ruling out the selection hypothesis. Breeding probability varied within three levels of experience : no breeding experience, 1 experience, 2+ experiences. We fitted models with and without among-individual differences in breeding probabilities by including or not an additive individual random effect. Including the individual random effect improved the model fit less than including experience but the best model retained both. However, because modeling individual heterogeneity by means of an additive static individual random effect is currently criticized and may not be appropriate, we discuss the results with and without random effect. Without random effect, breeding probability of inexperienced birds was always w3 times lower than that of same age experienced birds, and breeding probability increased more with one additional experience than with one additional year of age. With random effects, the advantage of experience was unequivocal only after age 9 while in young having w1 experience was penalizing. Another pattern, that breeding probability of birds with v2 experiences dropped after some age (8 without random effect; up to 11 with it), may point to differences in the timing of reproductive senescence or to the existence of a sensitive period for acquiring behavioral skills. Overall, the role of experience appears strong in this long-lived species. We argue that overlooking the role of experience may hamper detection of trade-offs and assessment of individual heterogeneity. However, manipulative experiments are desirable to confirm our finding. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Pradel2012PONE,
author = {Pradel, , Roger AND Choquet, , Rémi AND Béchet, , Arnaud},
title = {Breeding Experience Might Be a Major Determinant of Breeding Probability in Long-Lived Species: The Case of the Greater Flamingo},
journal = {PLoS ONE},
publisher = {Public Library of Science},
year = {2012},
volume = {7},
number = {12},
pages = {e51016},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0051016},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0051016}
}
|
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| Sanz-Aguilar A, Béchet A, Germain C, Johnson AR and Pradel R (2012), "To leave or not to leave: survival tradeoffs between different migratory strategies in the Greater Flamingo", Journal of Animal Ecology. Vol. 81(6), pp. 1171-1182. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: 1. The balance between costs and benefits of migration under different environmental, density-dependent and individual conditions may promote a broad range of migratory behaviours. We studied the factors influencing first-year migration and subsequent fidelity or dispersal among wintering areas, and the survival costs of different wintering behaviours in the greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus).
2. We analysed by multievent capture–recapture modelling among-site dispersal⁄fidelity and site-dependent survival probabilities from 22 671 flamingos ringed in the Camargue (France) between 1977 and 2010 and resighted subsequently in their wintering grounds classified as France, Iberian Peninsula,Italy and NorthAfrica. 3. We found that first- and second-year birds either resident or wintering at medium distances from their birth place, survived better than those wintering further afield. However, under severe winter conditions (extremely cold winter 1984–1985), individuals with the sedentary strategy suffered the highest levels of mortality. From the third winter onwards, the pattern of survival reversed: the long-distance wintering individuals (i.e.North Africa) survived better. 4. The proportion of first-year birds migrating for wintering was highly variable among cohorts and increased with favourable environmental conditions (wet years). After the first winter, birds showed high fidelity (>90%) to their previous wintering area and wintered preferably near their natal colony when they became adults(>2 years). 5. Survival estimates suggest that long-distance migration was costly for young and inexperienced individuals. Nonetheless, for adults, the most southern wintering areas seem to offer the most favourable local conditions for overwinter survival. 6. The higher availability of intermediate stopover sites during wet years may facilitate first-year migration.Then,once they have some wintering experience, flamingos appear to favour the known wintering grounds. As they grow older, dispersing towards the vicinity of the natal colony may provide higher breeding prospects for individuals wintering closer to this high-quality and saturated breeding ground, as predicted by the arrival-time hypothesis. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Sanz-Aguilar2012JAE,
author = {Ana Sanz-Aguilar and Arnaud Béchet and Christophe Germain and Alan R. Johnson and Roger Pradel},
title = {To leave or not to leave: survival tradeoffs between different migratory strategies in the Greater Flamingo},
journal = {Journal of Animal Ecology},
year = {2012},
volume = {81},
number = {6},
pages = {1171-1182},
doi = {10.1111/j.1365-2656.2012.01997.x}
}
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| Béchet A (2011), "La nature, dernière conquête de la finance", EcoRev'. Vol. 36 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Bechet2011EcoRev,
author = {Arnaud Béchet},
title = {La nature, dernière conquête de la finance},
journal = {EcoRev'},
year = {2011},
volume = {36}
}
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| Boucheker A, Samraoui B, Prodon R, Amat JA, Rendón-Martos M, Bacetti N, i Esquerre FV, Nissardi S, Balkız Ö, Germain C, Boulkhssaim M and Béchet A (2011), "Connectivity between the Algerian population of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus and those of the Mediterranean basin", Ostrich. Vol. 82(3), pp. 167-174. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: In the Mediterranean basin, Greater Flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus constitute a metapopulation with natal and breeding dispersal among colonies. However, the rate of exchange between European and North African colonies remains poorly known. In this paper, we document the wintering and breeding of European flamingos in Algeria and provide the first post-fledging dispersal data for flamingos born in Algeria. At breeding colonies in Algeria, most ringed birds (99.4% of 835 birds) originated from north-western Mediterranean colonies (397 individuals born in France, 369 in Spain, 57 in Sardinia and seven in continental Italy), but there were also four from Turkey (the first evidence of natal dispersal from a north-eastern Mediterranean colony to Algeria) and one from Algeria. Among the 860 fledglings ringed in Algeria in 2006 and 2009, 619 different individuals were resighted from August 2006 to September 2010 in a total of 980 resightings. A large proportion (73%) of these birds was observed at North African sites, while the remaining ones reached both north-western (168 birds) and north-eastern (three birds) Mediterranean wetlands, suggesting extensive interchange between colonies from both sides of the Mediterranean Sea. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Boucheker2011,
author = {Abdennour Boucheker and Boudjéma Samraoui and Roger Prodon and Juan A. Amat and Manuel Rendón-Martos and Nicolas Bacetti and Francesc Vidal i Esquerre and Sergio Nissardi and Özge Balkız and Christophe Germain and Mouloud Boulkhssaim and and Arnaud Béchet},
title = {Connectivity between the Algerian population of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus and those of the Mediterranean basin},
journal = {Ostrich},
year = {2011},
volume = {82},
number = {3},
pages = {167-174}
}
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| Chokri MA, Sadoul N, Selmi S and Béchet A (2011), "Relative importance of island availability and terrestrial predation risk forage nesting habitat selection of colonial charadriiformes in sfax salina (Tunisia)", Revue d'Ecologie (Terre et Vie). Vol. 66, pp. 367-382. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: En zone méditerranéenne, les salins sont de plus en plus considérés comme un habitat particulièrement important pour la nidification des oiseaux d’eau coloniaux. toutefois, ces salins manquent le plus souvent d’îlots isolés et inaccessibles aux prédateurs terrestres, ce qui est de nature à exposer les colonies d’oiseaux à une importante pression de prédation, diminuant ainsi leur succès reproducteur. l’importance relative de la disponibilité en îlots inaccessibles et de la pression de prédation terrestre comme clefs possibles dans le processus de sélection des sites de nidification par ces oiseaux a été rarement élucidée. ainsi, l’objectif de ce travail est d’examiner cette question en utilisant des données sur la nidification de cinq espèces de Laro-limicoles (Avocette élégante, Sterne naine, Sterne pierregarin, Sterne hansel et Goéland railleur) dans le salin de Sfax, l’un des plus importants sites de nidification de ces oiseaux sur la rive sud de la Méditerranée. Ces données ont été recueillies grâce à un suivi des colonies de nidification installées sur un total de 101 sites au cours de deux saisons de reproduction successives (2004 et 2005). parmi ces sites, 19 correspondent à des îlots complètement isolés, soit le nombre total de sites inaccessibles aux prédateurs terrestres du salin. la très grande majorité des effectifs reproducteurs se sont installés sur des sites accessibles (92,6% et 86,3% des 8277 et des 7844 couples recensés en 2004 et 2005 respectivement). Nos résultats montrent aussi que l’occupation des sites accessibles précède généralement celle des sites inaccessibles et que les caractéristiques physiques sélectionnées par les oiseaux pour le choix de ces sites accessibles varient selon les espèces. globalement, l’ensemble de nos résultats suggère qu’en absence d’un nombre suffisant d’îlots isolés, les digues, parcourues par les prédateurs terrestres, représentent des pièges écologiques pour les oiseaux d’eau coloniaux nichant dans ce salin. Ces résultats sont enfin utilisés pour proposer un mode de création de sites de nidification attractifs pour les oiseaux.
Salinas are highly valued habitats for the conservation of ground-nesting colonial waterbirds in the Mediterranean, yet they often lack islets, preferred breeding habitats for these species. In this paper, we evaluated the relative importance of island availability and terrestrial predation risk for nesting habitat selection of five species of colonial charadriiformes (avocet, little tern, common tern, gull-billed tern and slender-billed gull) in the Sfax Salina (Tunisia), one of the most important breeding areas of these species along the southern Mediterranean coast. We monitored colony settlement pattern, colony size and colony site features used by the birds in 2004 and 2005. In total, 101 sites were occupied during the two years of study. These occupied sites included 19 isolated islets, which represent the total number of available inaccessible islets in the studied salina. 92.6% of the 8277 breeding pairs counted in 2004 and 86.3% of the 7844 breeding pairs counted in 2005 settled on accessible sites. Our results also show that the occupation of accessible sites began before the occupation of isolated ones. We propose that these accessible sites should be considered as ecological traps resulting from the overall lack of isolated sites. Finally, because dikes are an unlimited habitat for nesting, we identify the environmental cues selected by colonial Charadriiformes within this habitat to develop guidelines for the construction of attractive islets. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Chokri2011,
author = {Mohammed Ali Chokri and Nicolas Sadoul and Slaheddine Selmi and Arnaud Béchet},
title = {Relative importance of island availability and terrestrial predation risk forage nesting habitat selection of colonial charadriiformes in sfax salina (Tunisia)},
journal = {Revue d'Ecologie (Terre et Vie)},
year = {2011},
volume = {66},
pages = {367-382}
}
|
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| Descamps S, Béchet A, Descombes X, Arnaud A and Zerubia J (2011), "An automatic counter for aerial images of aggregations of large birds", Bird Study. Vol. 58, pp. 302-308. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Descamps2011,
author = {Stig Descamps and Arnaud Béchet and Xavier Descombes and Antoine Arnaud and Josiane Zerubia},
title = {An automatic counter for aerial images of aggregations of large birds},
journal = {Bird Study},
year = {2011},
volume = {58},
pages = {302-308}
}
|
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| Schmaltz L, Cézilly F and Béchet A (2011), "Using multistate recapture modelling to assess age-specific bottlenecks in breeding success: a case study in the Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus", Journal of Avian Biology. Vol. 42, pp. 178-186. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Bird reproductive performance often increases with age or experience as a result of improved foraging skills, increased reproductive effort, improved coordination between partners, or a selection process. However, it remains unclear whether age and/or experience affect equally the successive steps of the breeding process, from egg laying to incubation and chick rearing. Using data from a long-term study of the Camargue (southern France) population of the greater flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus, we studied the influence of age on step-specific breeding performances during a single breeding season. We used, for the first time, multistate recapture models to evaluate the effect of age on breeding attendance (as asurrogate for breeding success) during incubation, early chick rearing and late chick rearing. Our results show a significant positive influence of age on breeding attendance, but only during the incubation period. Older parents had a higher
probability than younger ones of completing incubation, whereas after the chick had hatched, the influence of parental age on breeding attendance was no longer significant. Although a high rate of nest desertion by younger flamingos during the middle of the incubation period coincided with a period of heavy rainfall, including rainfall level as a covariate did not improve the fit of the models. We discuss our results in relation to the evolution of life-history strategies in long-lived bird species and the influence of environmental instability. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Schmaltz2011,
author = {Lucie Schmaltz and Frank Cézilly and Arnaud Béchet},
title = {Using multistate recapture modelling to assess age-specific bottlenecks in breeding success: a case study in the Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus},
journal = {Journal of Avian Biology},
year = {2011},
volume = {42},
pages = {178-186}
}
|
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| Balkız Ö, Béchet A, Rouan L, Choquet R, Germain C, Amat JA, Rendón-Martos M, Baccetti N, Nissardi S, Özesmi U and Pradel R (2010), "Experience-dependent natal philopatry of breeding Greater flamingos", Journal of Animal Ecology. Vol. 79(5), pp. 1045-1056. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: 1. Contrary to the generally high level of natal philopatry (i.e. likelihood that individuals breed at their natal colony) found in first-breeding colonial birds, little is known of natal philopatry later in life.Mosthypothesesadvancedtoexplainnatalphilopatryarevalidatallages.However,foryoung and inexperienced birds, the benefits of natal philopatry may be counterbalanced by the costs of intraspecific competition at the natal colony making dispersal temporarily advantageous. In turn, experience may increase competitive ability and make natal philopatry advantageous again.
2. We evaluated this hypothesis on the large-scale dispersal of greater flamingos Phoenicopterusroseus breeding among three colonies comprising >85% of the Western Mediterranean meta-population.The Camargue (France) and Fuente de Piedra (Spain) are large and saturated colonies while Molentargius (Sardinia) is a small and growing colony. 3. We used a 20-year capture-mark-resighting dataset of 4900 flamingos ringed as chicks in Camargue and Fuente de Piedra and breeding at the three colonies. We assessed the effects of natal colony and breeding experience (first-time observed breeders versus confirmed experienced breeders) on dispersal using multistate capture-recapture models. Dispersal to an unobservable state accounted for temporary emigration. 4. Fidelity was higher at the natal colony (>84%) than elsewhere. Fidelity increased with experience in the two large colonies (Camargue and Fuente de Piedra) suggesting a large-scale experience-related despotic distribution.Breeding dispersal was significant (up to 61% and 52% for first-time breeders and experienced breeders, respectively) so that colony dynamics is affected by exchanges with other colonies. Except for Fuente-born breeders leaving Molentargius, dispersal to the natal colony was higher than to any other colonies. 5. Survival was not higher at the natal colony. Inexperienced birds likely had lower breeding success at the Camargue and skipped reproduction after having emigrated to the other large colony but not to Molentargius. Breeding at Molentargius could allow avoiding queuing (and non-breeding) at the large colonies while gaining experience and competitive ability for future attempts. 6. Natal philopatry appears as an important driver of large-scale breeding dispersal in the Greater flamingo. The fitness advantage of natal philopatry is likely experience-dependent and mediated by the variations of intraspecific competition. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Balkiz2010,
author = {Özge Balkız and Arnaud Béchet and Lauriane Rouan and Rémi Choquet and Christophe Germain and Juan A. Amat and Manuel Rendón-Martos and Nicola Baccetti and Sergio Nissardi and Uygar Özesmi and Roger Pradel},
title = {Experience-dependent natal philopatry of breeding Greater flamingos},
journal = {Journal of Animal Ecology},
year = {2010},
volume = {79},
number = {5},
pages = {1045-1056}
}
|
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| Béchet A, Giroux J-F, Gauthier G and Belisle M (2010), "Why roost at the same place? Exploring short-term fidelity in staging snow geese", The Condor. Vol. 112(2), pp. 294-303. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Abstract. When a communal roost is large relative to foraging distances, variance in foraging success may affect the positioning of the birds within the roost and we should expect fidelity to positions that improve foraging success. We explored fidelity of Snow geese (Chen caerulescens) to three sections of a 5-km 2 roost in flooded lowlands during their spring stopover in Quebec. From 1998 to 2000, we located 166 radio-tagged geese on 1077 occasions. Fidelity rates were higher than expected by chance in all sections in 1998, in two in 2000, but in none in 1999. Fidelity increased with the number of birds using a section, suggesting a positive effect of conspecific at- traction. We tracked 292 foraging trips of 108 radio-tagged geese; birds from different sections tended to forage in specific directions. Average distance to foraging sites saved by appropriate choice of a section varied between 7 and 17%, depending on the section. however, distance traveled over 2 successive days did not decrease when geese switched from roosting in one section to another, suggesting that minimization of foraging-trip distance may stem simply from the spatial organization of foraging trips in order to reduce travel distance to food patches. Higher fidelity rates were associated with shorter travel distance in only one section of the roost, and dominant birds arriving early in the season tended to be more faithful to this section. We conclude that conspecific attraction, reduction in travel costs to foraging sites, and individual variation in dominance determine roost positioning and fidelity concurrently. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Bechet2010CONDOR,
author = {Arnaud Béchet and Jean-François Giroux and Gilles Gauthier and Marc Belisle},
title = {Why roost at the same place? Exploring short-term fidelity in staging snow geese},
journal = {The Condor},
year = {2010},
volume = {112},
number = {2},
pages = {294-303}
}
|
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| Chokri MA, Selmi S, Sadoul N and Béchet A (2010), "Nidification des sternes naines Sterna albifrons, Pierregarin Sterna hirundo et Hansel, Sterna nilotica dans le Salin de Sfax, Tunisie : Chronologie, effectifs et succès reproducteur = Breeding of Little Tern Sterna albifrons, Common Tern Sterna hirundo and Gull-billed Tern Sterna nilotica nesting in Sfax salina in south-eastern Tunisia: chronology, numbers and breeding success rate", Alauda. Vol. 78(1), pp. 51-60. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: In this paper we present data on breeding parameters of Little Tern Sterna albifrons, Common Tern Sterna hirundo and Gull-billed Tern Sterna nilotica nesting in Sfax salina in south-eastern Tunisia. The abundance peak was reached between the end of April and the beginning of May for the Little Tern and Common Tern and during May for Gull-billed Tern. Egg laying started from the third to the fourth week of April for Little and Common Terns and across May for Gull-billed Tern. In the three years of study, the number of nests per colony varied from 1 to 75 for Little Tern, from 1 to 101 for Common Tern, and from 1 to 114 for Gull-billed Tern. Clutch size varied between 1 and 4 for Little and Common Terns and from 1 to 3 for Gull-billed Tern, with significant differences among years. For the three species, the colony reproductive success, i.e. the number of fledged chicks per breeding pair, largely varied among colonies and years. Lowest and highest recorded values were 0 and 1.8 for Little Tern; 0 and 2 for Common Tern, and 0 and 0.8 for Gull-billed Tern. This low reproductive success is thought to be mainly caused by terrestrial predation and disturbance. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Chokri2010A,
author = {Mohammed Ali Chokri and Slaheddine Selmi and Nicolas Sadoul and Arnaud Béchet},
title = {Nidification des sternes naines Sterna albifrons, Pierregarin Sterna hirundo et Hansel, Sterna nilotica dans le Salin de Sfax, Tunisie : Chronologie, effectifs et succès reproducteur = Breeding of Little Tern Sterna albifrons, Common Tern Sterna hirundo and Gull-billed Tern Sterna nilotica nesting in Sfax salina in south-eastern Tunisia: chronology, numbers and breeding success rate},
journal = {Alauda},
year = {2010},
volume = {78},
number = {1},
pages = {51-60}
}
|
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| Maris V and Béchet A (2010), "From adaptive management to adjustive management : a pragmatic account of biodiversity values", Conservation Biology. Vol. 24(4), pp. 966-973. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Abstract: The conservation of biodiversity poses an exceptionally difficult problem in that it needs to be effective in a context of double uncertainty: scientific (i.e., how to conserve biodiversity) and normative (i.e., which biodiversity to conserve and why). Although adaptive management offers a promising approach to overcome scientific uncertainty, normative uncertainty is seldom tackled by conservation science. We expanded on the approach proposed by adaptive-management theorists by devising an integrative and iterative approach to conservation that encompasses both types of uncertainty. Inspired by environmental pragmatism, we suggest that moral values at stake in biodiversity conservation are plastic and that a plurality of individual normative positions can coexist and evolve. Moral values should thus be explored through an experimental process as additional parameters to be incorporated in the traditional adaptive-management approach. As such, moral values should also be monitored by environmental ethicists working side by side with scientists and managers on conservation projects. Acknowledging the diversity of moral values and integrating them in a process of collective deliberation will help overcome the normative uncertainty. We used Dewey’s distinction between adaptation and adjustment to offer a new paradigm built around what we call adjustive management, which reflects both the uncertainty and the likely evolution of the moral values humans attribute to biodiversity. We illustrate how this paradigm relates to practical conservation decisions by exploring the case of the Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus), an alien species in France that is the target of an eradication plan undertaken with little regard for moral issues. We propose that a more satisfying result of efforts to control Sacred Ibis could have been reached by rerouting the traditional feedback loop of adaptive management to include a normative inquiry. This adjustive management approach now needs to be tested in real-case conservation programs. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Maris2010,
author = {Virginie Maris and Arnaud Béchet},
title = {From adaptive management to adjustive management : a pragmatic account of biodiversity values},
journal = {Conservation Biology},
year = {2010},
volume = {24},
number = {4},
pages = {966-973},
doi = {10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01437.x}
}
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| Maris V, Mathevet R and Béchet A (2010), "Figures de style sur la destruction de la biodiversité.", Espaces Naturels. Vol. 29, pp. 32. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Maris2010b,
author = {Virginie Maris and Raphaël Mathevet and Arnaud Béchet},
title = {Figures de style sur la destruction de la biodiversité.},
journal = {Espaces Naturels},
year = {2010},
volume = {29},
pages = {32}
}
|
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| Béchet A, Germain C, Sandoz A, Hirons GJ, Green RE, Walmsley JG and Johnson AR (2009), "Assessment of the impacts of hydrological fluctuations and salt pans abandonment on Greater flamingos in the Camargue, South of France", Biodiversity and Conservation. Vol. 18, pp. 1575-1588. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Flamingos forage in both commercial salt pans and natural marshes and lagoons along the French Mediterranean coast. In order to assess the impact of changes in management of commercial salt pans and hydrological fluctuations on this flagship species, we evaluated the foraging areas of breeding flamingos using the resightings of 283 breeding flamingos marked with dye at the colony in 1987 and 1989, two years withcontrasting hydrological conditions. Teams of observers searched all suitable habitats within 80 km of the colony during the four days following marking and recorded presence of off-duty flamingos. About one-third of the birds were found within 10 km of the colony, but some were seen up to 70 km away. About 24–54% of the birds were found in permanent brackish lagoons and 18–60% in the salt pans, the two most important habitats. In 1989, a dry year with lower water levels in the natural wetlands, the proportion of breeding flamingos using salt pans was twice as high [53%, range (47–60%)] as in 1987 [26%, range (18–29%)], this habitat thus acting as a refuge. Most of the feeding areas shown to be important for flamingos breeding in the Camargue are thus susceptible to variations according to rainfall and to transformations or drying out if the salt pans are abandoned. Our results provide essential benchmarks to reconsider the conservation of this flagship species when management of commercial salt pans changes. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Bechet2009,
author = {Béchet, A. and Germain, C. and Sandoz, A. and Hirons, G. J.M. and Green, R. E. and Walmsley, J. G. and Johnson, A. R.},
title = {Assessment of the impacts of hydrological fluctuations and salt pans abandonment on Greater flamingos in the Camargue, South of France},
journal = {Biodiversity and Conservation},
year = {2009},
volume = {18},
pages = {1575-1588},
doi = {DOI 10.1007/s10531-008-9544-8}
}
|
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| Brochet A-L, Gauthier-Clerc M, Mathevet R, Béchet A, Mondain-Monval J-Y and Tamisier A (2009), "Marsh management, reserve creation, hunting periods and carrying capacity for wintering ducks and coots", Biodiversity and Conservation. Vol. 18, pp. 1879-1894. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Many wild species, like waterbirds, are exploited for their economic interests. At present, the annual western Palearctic duck bag is at least 17 million birds. From a sustainable management perspective, wetland users and managers request predictions ofspatial distribution and abundance variations of these bird populations. The objective of this study was to analyze local factors potentially influencing the diurnal distribution and population size of wintering ducks and coots, the main game species, in Camargue (southern France). First, we showed that marshland surface area, salinity and hunting disturbance were the principal variables explaining the duck and coot distribution. Secondly, we tested the hypothesis that hunting disturbance would reduce the carrying capacity of the Camargue with two analyses: the effect of creating a protected area and the change of the hunting closing date. This hypothesis was not validated. Our study therefore led us to reconsider the research orientations on the carrying capacity in this wetland. The surface of protected day roosts seems presently sufficient in the Rhone delta. Consequently, to increase the population size with the same level of hunting disturbance at the scale of the Camargue, alternative strategies should be envisaged, such as the creation of nature reserves on nocturnal feeding ground or the creation of large management units with limited disturbance. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Brochet2009,
author = {Anne-Laure Brochet and Michel Gauthier-Clerc and Raphaël Mathevet and Arnaud Béchet and Jean-Yves Mondain-Monval and Alain Tamisier},
title = {Marsh management, reserve creation, hunting periods and carrying capacity for wintering ducks and coots},
journal = {Biodiversity and Conservation},
year = {2009},
volume = {18},
pages = {1879-1894},
doi = {10.1007/s10531-008-9562-6}
}
|
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| Descamps S, Descombes X, Béchet A and Zerubia J (2009), "Détection de flamants roses par processus ponctuels marqués pour l'estimation de la taille des populations", Traitement du Signal., July, 2009. Vol. 26(2), pp. 95-108. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Descamps2009,
author = {Descamps, S. and Descombes, X. and Béchet, A. and Zerubia, J.},
title = {Détection de flamants roses par processus ponctuels marqués pour l'estimation de la taille des populations},
journal = {Traitement du Signal},
year = {2009},
volume = {26},
number = {2},
pages = {95-108}
}
|
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| Béchet A and Johnson AR (2008), "Anthropogenic and environmental determinants of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus breeding numbers and productivity in the Camargue (Rhone delta, southern France)", Ibis. Vol. 150, pp. 69-79. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Predicting how bird populations may respond to climate change is a major challenge which could be addressed by understanding how past environmental processes have driven the variations of breeding population size and productivity. In inhabited regions, this issue may be complicated by the interference associated with heterogeneous levels of habitat management. Here, we have explored how several hydrological variables influenced the breeding of the Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus in the Camargue (Rhone delta, southern France) over a 28-year period (1974–2001). In this region, Flamingos breed in a commercial salt pan. They forage in both salt pans and adjacent brackish lagoons. We hypothesized that breeding numbers, productivity and body condition of chicks at fledging were influenced positively by water levels of the Vaccares, the main lagoon of the delta, in spring (water and food availability) and the Rhone discharge in winter (nutrient availability in the salt pans). We controlled for variations of the flooding date of the breeding salt pan by the salt company and the size of the breeding island. We first found the Vaccares water levels and Rhone discharge to be negatively correlated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Secondly, the number of Flamingo breeding pairs (range 3560–22 200) increased by 1767 ± 1418 (95%CI) with a 10-day advance of the flooding date of the breeding salt pan and by 1146 ± 1081 per 10-cm water level rise in the Vaccares. Productivity was 0.46 ± 0.41 chicks per pair and could not be explained by any of the variables considered. Finally, chick body condition decreased with the number of breeding pairs and Rhone discharge. Our results show that (1) this intensely managed system remains sensitive to large-scale climate variations, (2) the breeding of the Greater Flamingo is affected by both climate variations and management of the salt pan, and (3) the expected enhancement of delta productivity by high river discharge was absent, probably prevented by dykes and embankments along the river. The response of bird populations to climate variations can thus be complex in intensely managed biological systems as found in the Mediterranean. We encourage pursuing such analyses incorporating anthropogenic variables explicitly in order to expand our capacity to make inference on the future of these systems. |
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BibTeX:
@article{Bechet2008,
author = {Béchet, A. and Johnson, A. R.},
title = {Anthropogenic and environmental determinants of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus breeding numbers and productivity in the Camargue (Rhone delta, southern France)},
journal = {Ibis},
year = {2008},
volume = {150},
pages = {69-79},
note = {Record Number: 20092}
}
|
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| Chokri MA, Sadoul N, Medhioub K and Béchet A (2008), "Analyse comparative de la richesse avifaunistique du salin de Sfax dans le contexte Tunisien et Méditerranéen", Revue d'Ecologie. La Terre et la Vie. Vol. 63, pp. 351-370. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: The present comparative analysis of the waterbirds community of the sfaxsalina aimed at examining if local and regional factors may explain the numbers, the specific composition and diversity of wintering waterbirds in this salina by comparison (i) with other tunisian wetlands, during the wintering season; (ii) with six highly protected western mediterranean salinas during the wintering and the breeding season. this is a first evaluation of the importance of the sfax salina for waterbirds in order to advocate for a better designation of protection in relation to its high richness. our results show that sfax salina is nationally and internationally important for both wintering and breeding waterbirds. it is proposed that this high value is essentially explained by (i) the permanent salt-making activity all over the year making water and food resources abundant and predictable from January to december, (ii) the proximity to the gulf of Gabes, a large tidal area which is a major wintering site for waterbirds and (iii) a significant part of historical contingency. if a high proportion of the waterbirds of tunisia is present in the sfax salina, RAMSAR criterion is moreover attained for at least five wintering and breeding waterbirds. however, only the Zico label, which has no regulatory value, is attributed to this site. hence, the designation of the sfax salina as a RAMSAR site is strongly recommended for a better protection. Nous présentons ici une analyse comparative de l’avifaune du salin de sfax dans le but d’examiner si des facteurs intrinsèques et environnants expliquent les effectifs, la composition spécifique et la diversité des oiseaux d’eau de ce salin (i) durant l’hivernage comparativement aux zones humides tunisiennes, (ii) durant l’hivernage et la reproduction comparativement à un échantillon de six salins de l’ouest de la méditerranée faisant l’objet de fortes mesures de protection. ce travail constitue une première évaluation de l’importance du salin de sfax pour les oiseaux d’eau afin qu’il bénéficie d’une désignation à la hauteur de sa richesse. nos résultats montrent que le salin de sfax revêt une importance nationale et internationale pour ses effectifs hivernants et nicheurs d’oiseaux d’eau. nous proposons que cette richesse exceptionnelle s’explique par (i) la permanence de l’activité salinière tout au long de l’année, procurant ainsi une ressource en eau et en nourriture abondante et prévisible durant tous les mois de l’année, (ii) la proximité du golfe de Gabès dont l’estran constitue un site d’hivernage de toute première importance pour les oiseaux d’eau et (iii) une part de contingence historique non négligeable. en plus d’accueillir une proportion significative des oiseaux hivernants et nicheurs de tunisie pour un grand nombre d’espèces, les effectifs du salin de sfax répondent aux critères requis pour la désignation RAMSAR pour cinq espèces d’oiseaux d’eau hivernants et nicheurs. pourtant ce site ne bénéficie que du label Zico qui n’a aucune valeur réglementaire. Nous recommandons donc la désignation du salin de sfax comme zone humide RAMSAR afin de favoriser sa protection.</td> </tr> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Chokri2008,
author = {Chokri, M. A. and Sadoul, N. and Medhioub, K. and Béchet, A.},
title = {Analyse comparative de la richesse avifaunistique du salin de Sfax dans le contexte Tunisien et Méditerranéen},
journal = {Revue d'Ecologie. La Terre et la Vie},
year = {2008},
volume = {63},
pages = {351-370}
}
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| Balkız Ö, Özesmi U, Pradel R, Germain C, Sıkı M, Amat JA, Rendon-Martos M, Bacetti N and Béchet A (2007), "Range of the Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus metapopulation in the Mediterranean: new insights from Turkey", Journal of Ornithology. Vol. 148(3), pp. 347-355. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Metapopulation conservation should rely on a flyway approach aiming to assess the spatial range of metapopulations by estimating the level of exchanges among local populations. In the Western Mediterranean, Greater Flamingos have been shown to constitute a metapopulation with natal and breeding dispersal among colonies. In this paper, we examine whether this metapopulation reaches Turkey using a band-resighting study. Our results constitute the first evidence of natal and breeding dispersal from the Western Mediterranean to Turkey, and suggest that the Gediz Delta, one of the two colony sites in Turkey, can play a significant role in the recruitment of flamingos from the Western Mediterranean. In 2003 and 2004, breeders of Western Mediterranean origin in the Gediz Delta accounted for more than 1.2 and 1.9% of the estimated breeding population, respectively. Our observations also indicate that the Western Mediterranean and Southwest Asia could constitute distinct compartments which overlap in Turkey. Future studies on the genetic differentiation between populations are necessary to conclude the existence of separate compartments. Finally, the resightings of flamingos banded in Turkey show that post-fledging dispersal from Turkey reaches both the Eastern and Western Mediterranean wetlands. Future data on the natal and breeding dispersal of flamingos born in Turkey could clarify further the connection between Turkey and the Western Mediterranean metapopulation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Balkiz2007a,
author = {Balkız, Ö and Özesmi, U. and Pradel, R. and Germain, C. and Sıkı, M. and Amat, J. A. and Rendon-Martos, M. and Bacetti, N. and Béchet, A.},
title = {Range of the Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus metapopulation in the Mediterranean: new insights from Turkey},
journal = {Journal of Ornithology},
year = {2007},
volume = {148},
number = {3},
pages = {347-355},
note = {Record Number: 18942}
}
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| Balkız Ö, Dano S, Barbraud C, Tekin S, Özesmi U, Dündar M and Béchet A (2007), "Sexing Greater Flamingo chicks from feather bulb DNA", Waterbirds. Vol. 30(3), pp. 450-453. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract: Adult Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) are sexually dimorphic, with males being on average larger and heavier than females. However, there is no practical way to sex the chicks by their morphology. Here we describe a method relying on quick and easy DNA extraction from feathers. A PCR test employing primers to amplify introns whose lengths usually differ between the CHD-W and the CHD-Z genes allow sex discrimination. This method is thus a fast, accurate and inexpensive protocol to sex flamingo chicks from feathers bulbs sampled in the field. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Balkiz2007b,
author = {Balkız, Ö and Dano, S. and Barbraud, C. and Tekin, S. and Özesmi, U. and Dündar, M. and Béchet, A.},
title = {Sexing Greater Flamingo chicks from feather bulb DNA},
journal = {Waterbirds},
year = {2007},
volume = {30},
number = {3},
pages = {450-453},
note = {Record Number: 20102}
}
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| Béchet A, Germain C, Amat JA, Canas C, Rendon-Martos M, Garrido A, Baccetti N, Dall'Antonia P, Balk?z Ö, Diawara Y and Johnson A (2007), "Metapopulation networks as tools for research and conservation: the case of the Greater Flamingo in the Mediterranean and West Africa", Ostrich., Jun, 2007. Vol. 78(2), pp. 506-507. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BibTeX:
@article{Bechet2007,
author = {Béchet, A. and Germain, C. and Amat, J. A. and Canas, C. and Rendon-Martos, M. and Garrido, A. and Baccetti, N. and Dall'Antonia, P. and Balk?z, Ö. and Diawara, Y. and Johnson, A.},
title = {Metapopulation networks as tools for research and conservation: the case of the Greater Flamingo in the Mediterranean and West Africa},
journal = {Ostrich},
year = {2007},
volume = {78},
number = {2},
pages = {506-507},
url = { |