An avifaunal survey of mesic manmade ecosystems “Oases” in algerian hot-hyperarid lands

Abstract

Man made ecosystems of dry lands are key habitats due to their ecological characteristics to survey biodiversity. This study investigated bird diversity in three oases of the Northern Algerian Sahara (i.e., Biskra in 2006, Oued Souf in 2008 and Ouargla in 2009), by using the spot-mapping method. Bird density "D" (pairs/10 ha), species richness "S" (number species), diversity (Shannon index) "H'" (in bits), and evenness "E" varied from one oasis to another (Biskra: D = 98.5, S = 47, H' = 4.49, E = 0.81; Oued Souf: D = 96, S = 33, H' = 3.9, E = 0.77; Ouargla: D = 91.5, S = 44, H' = 4.39, E = 0.80). Differences in bird diversity between the monitored palm groves are due to the ecological characteristics of each environment. Documented literature outlined close taxonomic similarities between bird assemblages of the study area with many Northern Saharan oases. The Hybrid Sparrow Passer domesticus x Passer. hispaniolensis and some Columbidae species including Columba livia, Streptopelia turtur, Streptopelia senegalensis, and Streptopelia decaocto were the abundant species throughout surveyed oases in which they represented more than half (55.6%) of the sum of species densities (D = 286 pairs/10 ha). These synthropic species have known a huge expansion of their distribution range throughout Algerian oases. The correspondence analysis allowed the aggregation of both families and species into oasis they belong to. One-way ANOVA was tested to analyse variations of both family and species densities between studied oases. The ANOVA revealed there was no significant variation either in family densities (p = 0.937) or in bird densities (p = 0.622) between the surveyed oases because of the small size of bird populations.

North African hybrid sparrows (Passer domesticus,P. hispaniolensis) back from oblivion – ecological segregation and asymmetric mitochondrial introgression between parental species

“…, ; Guezhoul et al. ). Shared habitat preferences between hybrids and one of the parental species have also been reported in another well‐studied hybrid zone of great tits and Japanese tits ( Parus major , P. minor ) in Far East (Kvist et al , Kvist and Rytkönen ).…”

Rapid increase in numbers and change of land-use in two expanding Columbidae species (Columba palumbus and Streptopelia decaocto) in Algeria

“…In the Sahara Desert (South Algeria), it was reported in 2003 in Biskra [43] and in 2007 in Tamanrasset [18]. Now, it is considered among the common bird species in several arid regions in Algeria [44,45]. These statements are naturally comparable with the well-known worldwide expansion patterns of the species, which has now colonized most of Europe and America, where its numbers are still growing even in areas where it had existed long time ago [46][47][48].…”

Diet of the Little Owl (Athene noctua) during the pre-reproductive period in a semi-arid Mediterranean region

“…The species includes two subspecies: Athene noctua saharae and Athene noctua glaux. Athene noctua saharae is widespread in inland and Saharan regions while Athene noctua glaux is limited to coastal regions (Isenmann and Moali 2000;Guezoul et al 2013). In the northeast of the country (Aures region), there are about 26 raptors in which six are owls including the Little Owl (Chenchouni 2011;Bensizerara et al 2013).…”