The importance of dredge islands for breeding waterbirds. A three-year study in the Venice Lagoon (Italy)

Scarton, Francesco; Cecconi, Giovanni Alberto; Cerasuolo, Claudia; Valle, Roberto G.

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2013.01.013

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…As a breeding site, the lagoon hosts significant fractions (i.e., >1 % of the Italian populations) of several waterbirds, such as Little Tern Sternula albifrons, Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis, Redshank Tringa totanus, Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus and Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus (Hale et al 2005;Scarton et al 2013a). Due to its importance for birds, the whole Venice Lagoon has been recognized since 2007 as a Special Protection Area, according to the European Union Birds Directive 2009/147/EC.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 98%

Use of artificial intertidal sites by birds in a Mediterranean lagoon and their importance for wintering and migrating waders

Scarton¹,

Montanari

2015

J Coast Conserv

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Man-made habitats provide suitable nesting, resting and feeding habitats for many birds at coastal sites. Despite intensive study outside Europe, very few data are available to date on the bird communities that exploit artificial intertidal sites along the European coasts. Between July 2009 and December 2010, 32 ornithological surveys were performed at six artificial intertidal sites in the lagoon of Venice (Italy). Overall, 101 species (with 23,399 birds) were observed, about a third of those occurring in the lagoon of Venice; 58 of these species were of conservation concern. Ten species comprised about 80 % of the total; bird abundance was the highest during the post-breeding migration and wintering period. Multivariate analysis identified similarity among sites, seasons and observed behaviours. Dredge islands were mostly used by waders as foraging sites, when surrounding tidal flats were still flooded. In winter the six dredged islands supported about 2 % of the dunlins Calidris alpina occurring in the whole lagoon of Venice and about 10 % of the grey plovers Pluvialis squatarola. Since the study sites comprised just the 6 % of the total dredge island area available in 2009-2010, the results indicate as large fractions of these shorebird populations might exploit the dredge island habitats for foraging. Among the newly created habitats, intertidal ponds and inner tidal flats were the most heavily used by birds, followed by dykes and mounds with ruderal vegetation. Maintenance of the habitat mosaic is a need for a conservation-based management of the dredge islands.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 98%

Use of artificial intertidal sites by birds in a Mediterranean lagoon and their importance for wintering and migrating waders

Scarton¹,

Montanari

2015

J Coast Conserv

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“…Gli ambiti di nidificazione sono stati suddivisi in sette categorie, in continuità con i precedenti lavori nell'area (Guzzon et al, 2001;Scarton et al, 2005): 1) scanni litoranei, generalmente poco antropizzati, con esclusione del litorale veneziano che risulta in gran parte edificato; 2) barene naturali, così definite per distinguerle dalle 3) barene artificiali, realizzate a partire dall'inizio degli anni '90 del secolo scorso in Laguna di Venezia e nel Delta del Po tramite refluimento, ossia sversamento controllato, di sedimenti dragati da canali lagunari (Scarton et al, 2013a); 4) valli da pesca; 5) casse di colmata, realizzate negli ultimi decenni del secolo scorso; 6) ripristino ambientale presso la foce dell'Isonzo e 7) riallagamento di Valle Vecchia, prossimo alla Laguna di Caorle. Solo allo scopo di semplificarne la rappresentazione grafica, gli ambienti prettamente artificiali (barene artificiali, ripristino alla foce dell'Isonzo e riallagamento di Valle Vecchia) sono stati raggruppati in un'unica classe nelle figure di seguito presentate.…”

Section: Materiali E Metodiunclassified

“…Pur in presenza di una situazione favorevole, permangono tuttavia fattori di forte disturbo antropico (Day et al, 1998;Day et al, 2019), tra cui la balneazione sul litorale, in grado di condizionare negativamente specie quali il fraticello ed il fratino, e la perdita annuale di covate a causa di interventi di regimazione idraulica nelle valli da pesca, che non tengono conto della presenza di specie nidificanti. Inoltre, evidente è la necessità di una gestione attenta delle barene artificiali, mirata in particolare alla conservazione di aree rilevate e libere da vegetazione, fondamentali per la presenza di colonie di laro-limicoli (Scarton, 2013a(Scarton, , 2013bDay et al, 2011). Risulta utile ribadire la necessità non solo di implementare un monitoraggio coordinato ma soprat-…”

Section: Conclusioniunclassified

[Waders and seabirds (Charadriiformes) nesting along the north-eastern Adriatic coastline (Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia) in 2008-2014: abundance, trends and major conservation issues]

Scarton¹,

Verza

Guzzon

et al. 2019

Riv Ital Ornitol

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[In 2008-2014 wader and seabird nesting pairs were censused along the 220-km long coastline of the NE Adriatic Sea, in the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions (NE Italy). Fourteen species were regularly breeding, with an annual mean of 20,610 pairs (±1553, 1 SD). The most abundant species was the Yellow-legged Gull (about 13,400 pairs on average, 65% of the whole population of the study area), followed by the Common Tern (1670 pairs, 8.1%) and Common Redshank (1525 pairs, 7.4%). The whole population of waders and seabirds increased with an annual rate, estimated with the TRIM software, of +0.8%, with a greater increase (+4.3%) if the Yellow-legged Gull was not included. Twelve species were stable or increasing; only the yellow-legged gull (-1%) and the common redshank (-2.4%) were decreasing. The populations of several species exceed 10% of those estimated for the whole of Italy; those of the Eurasian Oystercatcher, Common Redshank and Sandwich Tern are among the most important in the whole Mediterranean. On average, about 8860 pairs (43%) nest in the Venice lagoon, 6,400 pairs (31%) in the Po Delta, 5100 pairs (25%) in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia lagoons. Among nesting habitats, semi-natural (such as the fish farms) and man-made sites (dredge islands) make each year about 70% of the nesting pairs. Saltmarsh islets host large numbers of Common Redshank and Sandwich Tern, while along the beach zone the only abundant species are the Yellow-legged Gull and the Eurasian Oystercatcher. The major conservation threats observed in the study area were the erosion of littoral islands, the uncontrolled occurrence of sunbathers along the beaches, the vegetation overgrowth at dredge islands, the increasing frequency of saltmarsh submersion by high tides, the strong fluctuations of water levels inside the fish farms.] [Article in Italian]

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“…obs.). These artificial islands, better known as dredge islands, are largely available in the Venice Lagoon, where they have offered an alternative nesting habitat for a number of waterbirds for over thirty years (Scarton et al , 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

One Thousand Nesting Pairs Packed into One Hundred Square Metres: The Sad Story of the Sandwich Terns Thalasseus Sandvicensis of the Venice Lagoon

Valle¹,

Scarton²

2023

Ardeola

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SummaryCoastal wetlands support many globally threatened seabird species and may be critical for their conservation. Sea level rise dramatically affects coastal tidal marshes, thus posing the greatest threat to the survival of many seabird species, including gulls and terns. Sandwich Terns Thalasseus sandvicensis are particularly vulnerable to this threat. Although they breed in a wide range of habitats they chiefly nest close to water, just above the tideline. Here, we describe the particular vulnerability of the entire Sandwich Tern breeding population of the Venice Lagoon. Three colonies were found early in the 2022 breeding season, two of them on artificial habitat: on a small dredge island (0.01ha; 0.70m above sea level) in the Northern Lagoon and on an islet (0.01ha, elevation 0.5m a.s.l.) formed by bricks of a collapsed old building in the Southern Lagoon. The third colony was on a natural marsh island (1.50ha, 0.40m a.s.l.). These colonies hosted respectively 150, 369 and 1,100 pairs. In total, 1,111 out of 1,619 nests (68.6%) were flooded early in the season, with marked differences between sites; nest losses ranged from 86% on the brick island through 69% on the marsh island to 0% on the dredge island. The terns laid 1,043 replacement clutches, exclusively on the dredge island, joining the birds on this safe site. Overall, 795 chicks fledged (0.30 per breeding attempt) over the whole breeding season, with extreme differences between colony sites. Productivity ranged from zero fledglings per breeding attempt on the marsh island through 0.14 on the brick island to 0.75 on the dredge island. Artificial sites such as dredge islands may offer safe nesting sites and enable high productivity for Sandwich Tern when compared to saltmarsh islets. Given the probability of future sea level rises, a long-term management plan for these artificial sites is urgently needed.—Valle, R.G. & Scarton, F. (2023). One thousand nesting pairs packed into one hundred square metres: the sad story of the Sandwich Terns Thalasseus sandvicensis of the Venice Lagoon. Ardeola, 70: 89-103.

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The importance of dredge islands for breeding waterbirds. A three-year study in the Venice Lagoon (Italy)

Cited by 14 publications

References 29 publications

Use of artificial intertidal sites by birds in a Mediterranean lagoon and their importance for wintering and migrating waders

Use of artificial intertidal sites by birds in a Mediterranean lagoon and their importance for wintering and migrating waders

[Waders and seabirds (Charadriiformes) nesting along the north-eastern Adriatic coastline (Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia) in 2008-2014: abundance, trends and major conservation issues]

One Thousand Nesting Pairs Packed into One Hundred Square Metres: The Sad Story of the Sandwich Terns Thalasseus Sandvicensis of the Venice Lagoon

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