Description
Between 2013 and 2016 we conducted an inventory and characterization of aquatic avifauna at Lake Tonga, a Ramsar site. We identified 61 species belonging to 17 families, dominated by Anatidae with 14 species. The inventoried species have different phenological status. Some are known for their regular wintering and some for their summer concentrations, while others are residents year round. Population analysis showed the presence of endangered species such as Oxyura leucocephala, Marmaronetta angustirostris and Aythya nyroca, that are protected by national and/or international laws. Bird counts showed monthly variations in total abundance and richness, peaking during winter. Peak numbers were recorded in February and January, reflecting gatherings to prepare for prenuptial migration. Analysis of diversity and equitability indices indicated that maximum values were generally recorded during the pre- and post-nuptial passages (H'= 3.51 and E = 0.72). Our results reflect the importance of this wetland as a wintering site and nesting site for numerous waterbirds species.
Data Records
The data in this checklist resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 61 records.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Gherib A, Lazli A, Naili S, Boucheker A, Ikhlef D, Mechaka N I (2024). Avifauna diversity and phenology in a Ramsar site: Lake Tonga (Northeastern Algeria). Version 1.5. Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona. Checklist dataset. https://doi.org/10.15470/vwujvf
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 0ceea4e5-47a7-48bd-84c0-adba0780bf40. Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Spain.
Keywords
Lake Tonga; Water birds; Inventory; Count; Ecological indices; Spatial distribution; Checklist
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Geographic Coverage
The study was carried out at Lake Tonga, a Ramsar site and wilderness area in El Kala National Park. Located in the extreme Northeast of Algeria, this freshwater marsh covers an area of 2,600 ha. It occupies a large coastal depression and communicates with the sea by means of an artificial channel. Eighty percent of the park is covered in a mosaic consisting of emergent vegetation composed of helophyte (notably bulrushes, phragmites and typhas), with a large open water area largely occupied by the white water lily Nymphaea alba. This lily is becoming increasingly invasive, especially during the nesting period of the water birds. Lake Tonga is considered the most important wintering and nesting site in North Africa for a multitude of species.
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [36.806, 8.438], North East [36.914, 8.568] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
No Description available
| Family | Podicipedidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Ardeidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Accipitridae, Pandionidae, Rallidae, Recurvirostridae, Charadriidae, Scolopacidae, Motacillidae, Alcedinidae, Laridae, Falconidae |
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Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 2013-01-01 / 2016-12-31 |
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Project Data
North Africa is home to a great diversity of wetlands that provide wintering and stopover sites for Palearctic migratory birds. Within this vast group, and among the countries of the Western Palearctic, Algeria occupies a privileged place for a large number of migratory bird species (Bensaci et al., 2013). Its most predominant wetlands are located on the main migration route of the East Atlantic corridor and play an important relay role between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert, the two obstacles for migratory fauna (Lazli et al., 2018). This region in the northeast of Algeria comprises 72 wetland complexes. The El Kala wetland complex, which consists of a set of exceptionally large sites, stands out for the diversity of its fauna and flora (Stevenson et al., 1988). Its wetlands regularly receive a remarkable diversity of birds due to the favorable conditions during wintering and nesting seasons (Ledant et al., 1981; Isemann and Moali, 2000). Lake Tonga, one of the most famous wetlands within this complex, has been the subject of much research, mainly relating to the ecology and reproductive biology of many waterbirds species (Boumezbeur, 1993; Lazli et al., 2011a, 2011b; Lazli et al., 2012, Lazli et al., 2014; Athamnia et al., 2015; Gherib and Lazli, 2016, 2017; Menasria&Lazli, 2017; Rizi et al., 2019; Mecif et al., 2020). However, documentation of the avifaunistic diversity of this Ramsar site is incomplete and the inventories require review (Elafri et al., 2016; Loucif et al., 2020). The present study was conducted at Lake Tonga (north-east Algeria), a wintering and nesting site for various species of water birds. Our aim was to diagnose the state of health of this Ramsar site as in recent years it has been subjected to several degradation factors - such as poaching, disturbance, and unregulated pumping - that could be responsible for the loss of biodiversity and quality of its habitats. Research is needed to improve our knowledge of the lake’s richness, to monitor the status and phenology of species, and to determine the trends of its avian populations. With this objective in mind, we aimed to create an inventory and quantify the aquatic avifauna. We analyzed their structure by calculating various ecological indices that allowed us to understand the wintering strategy and typology, distinguish the status of the birds, and explain their abundance and diversity throughout their annual cycle. These datasets could contribute to the development of a management and preservation strategy for the biodiversity and habitats of this protected area.
| Title | Avifauna diversity and phenology in a Ramsar site: Lake Tonga (Northeastern Algeria) |
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| Study Area Description | The study was carried out at Lake Tonga, a Ramsar site and wilderness area in El Kala National Park. Located in the extreme Northeast of Algeria, this freshwater marsh covers an area of 2,600 ha. It occupies a large coastal depression and communicates with the sea by means of an artificial channel. Eighty percent of the park is covered in a mosaic consisting of emergent vegetation composed of helophyte (notably bulrushes, phragmites and typhas), with a large open water area largely occupied by the white water lily Nymphaea alba. This lily is becoming increasingly invasive, especially during the nesting period of the water birds (Lazli, 2011). Lake Tonga is considered the most important wintering and nesting site in North Africa for a multitude of species, such as the white-headed duck Oxyura leucocephala, the ferruginous duck Aythya nyroca, the purple swamp hen Porphyrio porphyrio, the great crested grebe Podiceps cristatus, and the glossy ibis Plegadis falcinellus (Lazli et al., 2011a, 2011b, 2012; Gherib and Lazli, 2016, 2017; Menasria and Lazli, 2017, Mecif et al., 2020). Regarding halieutic diversity, four species have been identified: Barbus callensis, Anguilla anguilla, Gambusia affinis and Pseudophoxinus callensis (Benmetir et al., 2020).The lake also hosts 22 Odonata species and several species of reptiles and amphibians (Lazli, 2011; Gherib, 2018). Despite its international importance and the essential role it plays in maintaining high biodiversity, this wetland is under increasing pressure from issues such as poaching, eutrophication, urbanization, and recreational summer activities, all of which increase the difficulties of carrying out local conservation actions (Lazli et al., 2014; Gherib and Lazli, 2017; Menasria and Lazli, 2017, Mecif et al., 2020). |
| Design Description | Fieldwork was conducted twice monthly, from September 2013 until August 2016 using a KONUS–SPOT telescope (20 x 60) and a pair of binoculars (10 x 50). We conducted individual counts when the total number of birds was fewer than 200, and made a visual estimate when the number of birds was greater than 200. In this case, we divided the flock into small equal parts and counted the number of birds in each part. This is the most commonly used method in winter counts because the number of individuals and the observation distances are often large (Lamotte and Bourlière, 1969; Blondel, 1975; Tamisier and Dehorter, 1999). To avoid disturbing the birds, observations were made from the banks, from around the lake, and from natural promontories. We also used the two watchtowers of 'Meizila' and 'Oued El Hout' as observation points. |
The personnel involved in the project:
- Author
Sampling Methods
Fieldwork was conducted twice monthly, from September 2013 until August 2016 using a KONUS-SPOT telescope (20 × 60) and a pair of binoculars (10 × 50). We conducted individual counts when the total number of birds was fewer than 200, and made a visual estimate when the number of birds was greater than 200. In this case, we divided the flock into small equal parts and counted the number of birds in each part. This is the most commonly used method in winter counts because the number of individuals and the observation distances are often large (Lamotte and Bourlière, 1969; Blondel, 1975; Tamisier and Dehorter, 1999). To avoid disturbing the birds, observations were made from the banks, from around the lake, and from natural promontories. We also used the two watchtowers of "Meizila" and "Oued El Hout" as observation points.
| Study Extent | The study was carried out at Lake Tonga, a Ramsar site and wilderness area in El Kala National Park (annex 1). Located in the extreme Northeast of Algeria, this freshwater marsh covers an area of 2,600 ha. It occupies a large coastal depression and communicates with the sea by means of an artificial channel (fig. 1). Eighty percent of the park is covered in a mosaic consisting of emergent vegetation composed of helophyte (notably bulrushes, phragmites and typhas), with a large open water area largely occupied by the white water lily Nymphaea alba. This lily is becoming increasingly invasive, especially during the nesting period of the water birds (Lazli, 2011). Lake Tonga is considered the most important wintering and nesting site in North Africa for a multitude of species, such as the white-headed duck Oxyura leucocephala, the ferruginous duck Aythya nyroca, the purple swamp hen Porphyrio porphyrio, the great crested grebe Podiceps cristatus, and the glossy ibis Plegadis falcinellus (Lazli et al., 2011a, 2011b, 2012; Gherib and Lazli, 2016, 2017; Menasria and Lazli, 2017, Mecif et al., 2020). Regarding halieutic diversity, four species have been identified: Barbus callensis, Anguilla anguilla, Gambusia affinis and Pseudophoxinus callensis (Benmetir et al., 2020).The lake also hosts 22 Odonata species and several species of reptiles and amphibians (Lazli, 2011; Gherib, 2018). Despite its international importance and the essential role it plays in maintaining high biodiversity, this wetland is under increasing pressure from issues such as poaching, eutrophication, urbanization, and recreational summer activities, all of which increase the difficulties of carrying out local conservation actions (Lazli et al., 2014; Gherib and Lazli, 2017; Menasria and Lazli, 2017, Mecif et al., 2020). |
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| Quality Control | To characterize the aquatic avifauna population, we determined several ecological indices, namely: (i) total abundance, which consisted of a count of the total number of birds that visited Lake Tonga on a specific date (Baziz, 2012); (ii) the frequency of occurrence (fi) according to Dajoz (2006) in Elafri et al. 2016, by dividing the number of surveys during which the species was recorded by the total number of conducted surveys; (iii) specific richness, which is the number of bird species observed on a specific date. This also allows determination and characterisation of the periods when bird numbers are richest and poorest (Blondel, 1969; Legendre and Legendre, 1979; Lindström and Piersma, 1993), (iv) Simpson index, D (according to the formula D = 1 − {Σni (ni − 1)/N (N − 1)}, where ni is the total number of birds of each individual species; N is the total number of birds of all species), (v) Shannon and Weaver diversity index H’(according to the formula H′ = [ΣPi ln Pi ], where Pi = is the proportion of each species in the sample (Daget, 1979). H' value varies from 0 when the community is composed of only one species to 4.5 or 5 bits for the most diverse communities. The lowest values, less than 1.5 bits, are associated with communities dominated by 01 or a few species (Faurie et al., 2003); (vi) as well as the Equitability index or Evenness (E) according to the formula H’/ H’ max, where (H′) is the Shannon diversity index and H’ max= lnS, is the maximum diversity and S is the specific richness recorded during each visit. When E is close to 1, the diversity observed reflects an abundance distribution close to equilibrium (Legendre and Legendre, 1979). Conversely, when E is close to 0, the observed diversity is low and illustrates a highly hierarchical distribution of abundance, which reflects a simple, restrictive environment in which few factors structure the settlement (Gherib, 2018). |
Method step description:
- With the monitoring of numbers, we visually noted the locations of waterbirds on grid maps, including all species regularly frequenting the lake and its immediate surroundings, whether wintering or nesting. The location of birds across the water body will later allow us to establish a distribution map of bird families observed throughout the wetland. Statistical analyses were carried out using Minitab 17 Ink. Because the data followed a normal distribution, we used the analyses of variance (one-way ANOVA) to determine whether there was a difference in ecological indices between the three years. The significance level used was p < 0.05.
Bibliographic Citations
- Gherib, A., Lazli, A., Naili, S., Boucheker, A., Ikhlef, D., Mechaka, N. I., 2021. Avifauna diversity and phenology in a Ramsar site: Lake Tonga (Northeastern Algeria). Arxius de Miscel·lània Zoològica, 19: 321 - https://doi.org/10.32800/amz.2021.19.0321 https://doi.org/10.32800/amz.2021.19.0321
Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | 10.15470/vwujvf |
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| 0ceea4e5-47a7-48bd-84c0-adba0780bf40 | |
| https://ipt.gbif.es/resource?r=avifauna_lake_tonga_algeria |