Simulation Modeling Unveils the Unalike Effects of Alternative Strategies for Waterbird Conservation in the Coastal Wetlands of Sardinia (Italy)

Description

Alessandro Ferrarini, Marco Gustin, and Claudio Celada model in 2023 the future of waterbirds in the coastal wetlands of Sardinia, Italy. These wetlands are rest stops for migrating birds on a major Mediterranean flyway. Human pressure and climate change now threaten them, so the team built a simulation to test what different futures and management choices would do.

In the most likely future, rising salt in the water, more discharges, and more tourism push bird diversity down. In the worst case, the average number of species per wetland halves, and most wetlands hold only a few species. Good management flips the picture. Limits on tourism, blocking salt water intrusion, and stopping discharges could lift diversity well above today's level in the best case. Most of these wetlands sit in a European protection network, which gives the results a direct policy use.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC10669041