Nesting habitat and breeding success of Fulica atra in tree wetlands in Fez’s region, central Morocco

Abstract

The current study was intended to investigate the breeding habitats and ecology of the Eurasian coot Fulica atra in Fez region Morocco. To achieve our goals, nests were monitored in three wetlands Oued Al Jawahir river, Mahraz and El Gaada dams. In addition, nesting vegetation and nest's dimensions were analysed to characterise the Eurasian coot nests. As results, 46 nests (74%) were found in Oued al Jawahir, compared with 15 nests (24%) in Mahraz dam. In El Gaada dam only 2 nests were built by the Eurasian coots. On the other hand, all nests were built on the riparian vegetation of the river and dams. Besides, nests were located in the periphery of the river stream. Many plants were used entirely or special parts, such as stems and roots in nesting activity. Typha angustifolia is used in 45.3% of nests and J. acutus in 38.6% of nests. Other plants are found with a minor presentation in nests, including P. stratiotes (9.6 %) of nests, Phragmites australis (5.6%), and Tamaris sp. (0.9%). These plants form the structure of nests and support. Besides nesting in river's periphery, the nests were constructed at an average height of 14.5 ± 0.05 away from the stream of water. Concerning nest success, nest predation ranged from 57% (2018) to 60% (2019). Nests were lost due to water stream and human disturbance. Finally, Eurasian coots build its nests in the periphery of water ecosystems and in an important high to avoid flooding periods and human disturbances.

Comparison of Nesting Features and Breeding Success of Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur between Orchards and Riparian Habitats

“…On the contrary, nests are particularly large in orchards, similar to the results reported in olives in Northwest Algeria [45], with, however, more nest variations depending on habitat types. More generally, a high variability in nest morphology was noted [46] depending on available nesting materials, which are suggested in our study to be the main factor controlling the difference observed in nest morphology. Our monitoring showed, in the four breeding seasons, different breeding success rates in farmlands and riparian 2).…”

Nesting features and breeding chronology of the crested coot (Fulica cristata) in two North African high altitude wetlands

“…The analysis of 54 nests indicated that crested coot built big sized-nests to support its clutches and nestling in Zerrouka and Hachlaf lakes. These findings are similar to the results mentioned in f the Eurasian coot Fulica atra in the Fez region, 70 km to our study sites (Squalli et al 2020). Besides, (Collias and Collias 1984;Hansell 2000) have reported a close correlation between species body and nest morphology, and suggesting a species-nest relation.…”

“…Generally, crested coot starts its breeding season between February and August in the Mediterranean basin, with variability from one habitat to another (Taylor and Van Perlo 1998), which explicit the difference between Zerrouka and Hachlaf lakes. Compared with the Eurasian coot in the same region, (Squalli et al 2020;Zitouni 2014) have reported a breeding season in Fulica atra between March and July, close to our results. Generally, breeding season in the majority of bird species is an adaptive strategy to environmental conditions (Smith et al 2010), food abundance (Mansouri et al 2019;Stone et al 2017), and habitat quality (Hollander et al 2012).…”

“…On the other hand, the construction of nests in the high platform upon water level and open waters at Zerrouka and islets on submerged vegetation at Hachlaf is supposed to be adaptive predators, and human disturbance are existing in borders of lake waters. Similar results were reported in the Eurasian coot, which built nests in high-density vegetation habitats to escape predators (Squalli et al, 2020). This strategy is widely reported in bird species (Frederick and Collopy 1989;Schüttler et al 2009), including the Eurasian coot (Del Hoyo et al 1996;Taylor and Van Perlo, 1998) as adaptive behavior to face the predation risk, especially during the incubation where the adults and nestling are in the nests (Brzeziński et al 2018;Engel et al 2020).…”

Breeding Performances of the European Blackbird (Turdus merula) in Morocco: Habitat Selection, Breeding Phenology, and Breeding Success

“…Consequently, the breeding chronology varies depending on the geographical zone. On the other hand, at Ait Ayach, laying and hatching dates were related to nest construction chronology, which is logical since the nest is the support of eggs and nestlings [27].…”