Coastal Wetland Monitoring and Mapping along the Turkish Mediterranean: Determining the Impact of Habitat Inundation on Breeding Bird Species

Within this study, bird species composition, spatial distribution of nests of the most common breeding bird species-the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus L.)-coastal habitat types, and spatiotemporal change on lagoon surface area were monitored. Field work and water-level monitoring occurred during a 2-year period form 2009 to 2011. Habitat mapping was accomplished through a combination of remote sensing (unsupervised classification of vegetation types) combined with ground truthing. Eleven habitat types were mapped in GIS software to create a dynamic habitat map for analyzing distribution and abundance of waterfowl. Annual changes in water levels and its effect on adjacent habitats are explored. Fifty-two nests were located in 2009 on places that were inundated by the spring flood and were, thus, potentially endangered by the flood. For change detection of the wetland, 13 Landsat Thematic Mapper and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus scenes, covering the period between January 2009 and October 2009, were used for pair-wise comparisons. For land cover classification, a WorldView-2 data was used and the information obtained was used in delineating boundaries of habitats. During the point surveys at the six observation points, 44 bird species were observed, whereas 65 bird species in total were recorded in the course of the project. At the salt marshes, 36 species were recorded, whereas at the freshwater marsh habitat, there were 28 species. In total, 247 Kentish plover nests were found during 2 years. The date eggs were laid was known for 198 nests; most nests were laid during May. The overall objective of this article was to develop a monitoring methodology for predicting the effect of inundation on reproductive success, understanding the habitat features of nesting waterfowl species, and estimating their population size for future monitoring of coastal wetlands.