Breeding behaviour of the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) in a salt marsh from the Eastern High Plateaux, northeast Algeria
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Date
2016-06-02
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Journal of King Saud University – Science
Abstract
Abstract The reproductive biology and nesting site selection of the Kentish plover, Charadrius
alexandrinus, were investigated in a semi-arid salt marsh from the Eastern High Plateaux, northeast
Algeria. The present study describes for the first time the breeding behaviour of this plover in the
Eastern High Plateaux. On the natural ecosystem of Sebkhet Ouled M’Barek, egg-laying occurred
from mid-April to late May, with peak in the last week of April. Mean clutch size was 2.71 ± 0.58
(n= 45), and incubation period was 27.0± 0.9 days. Hatching success amounted to 69.6%± 6.4
(45 clutches) and an average of 2.0± 0.2 chicks hatched per nest. In this study we observed that
incubating plovers usually nested near water edge and very close to a heterospecific nest. Three
aspects make this population distinct from most other Kentish plover populations studied to date.
It is characterised by a late onset of egg-laying, short egg-laying period and high rate of breeding
success. Nevertheless, the present study shows that the mean clutch size, egg volume and incubation
period were comparable to those known for other Mediterranean populations. Anthropogenic pressures,
habitat loss as well as lack of management plans are major threats of this population.
2016 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is
an open access article under the CC BY-NC-NDlicense (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).