A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Differing responses of functional and taxonomic waterbird diversity to vegetation height and water level variation in a coastal wetland
Authors: Secondi, Jean; Percel, Gwendoline; Arzel, Céline; Davranche, Aurélie; Farau, Sébastien
Publisher: Springer Nature
Publication year: 2026
Journal: European Journal of Wildlife Research
Article number: 15
Volume: 72
Issue: 1
ISSN: 1612-4642
eISSN: 1439-0574
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-025-02051-x
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : Partially Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-025-02051-x
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/508987175
Self-archived copy's licence: CC BY
Self-archived copy's version: Publisher`s PDF
The conservation of wetland biodiversity is a major global issue. In anthropogenic landscapes, it requires the identification of environmental conditions and management practices that sustainably maintain the diversity of the communities. We carried out a six-year survey over 18 sites (78 ha) in the Marais Breton, lowland grazing marshes on the western coast of Europe in France. We tested the influence of the spatio-temporal dynamic of vegetation heights, water depth and the proportion of flooded areas on the taxonomic and functional diversity of wading birds and ducks at the site scale. Taxonomic diversity was enhanced by higher spatial heterogeneity of water level and reduced by higher spatial heterogeneity of vegetation height. In sharp contrast, functional diversity was not influenced by spatial heterogeneity of water level and increased with spatial heterogeneity of vegetation height. Additionally, the effect of the spatio-temporal heterogeneity of water level and vegetation height was guild-dependent. Based on our results we encourage a management at the landscape scale integrating multiple land ownerships to promote a taxonomic and functional diversity rather than at the site scale only.
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Funding information in the publication:
Open access funding provided by Université d'Angers. This work was supported by Région Pays de la Loire, and the “ecocontribution” funded by Fédération Nationale des Chasseurs and Office Français de la Biodiversité. Céline Arzel’s work is supported by the grant number 333400 from Research Council of Finland.