Changes in Community Structure and Species Diversity of Water Birds as Ecological Indexes of Hor-Al-Azim Marsh

Abstract

Diversity variations, community structure, and biodiversity indexes of water birds are a good indicator of the ecological function of the wetlands ecosystems. Counting the water bird's community using the total count method with a 15 × 60 telescope and a 10 × 4 Zeiss binocular in February 2006February , 2011February and 2016 Globaly threatened species are identified by the IUCN (IUCN, 2015) criteria and protected species in Iran by the Department of Environment, Iran, rules, and standards. Hor-al-Azim wetland water bird's community consisted of two types of water beds, swimmers with 21 species and shore birds with 30 species. The total number of water beds in the Hor-al-Azim in February 2006 with an area of 118,000 ha, 2011 with an area of 5000 ha., and 2016 with an area of 10,000 ha., were 18337 individuals belonging to 51 species, 2257 individuals with 33 species and 3914 individuals with 43 species respectively. Margalef species diversity for all water beds of the wetland (aquatic swimmer and shorebirds) in