Relative abundance and diversity of waterbirds in a Persian Gulf mangrove forest, Iran

Figures & data

Figure 1 Hara Protected Area, Hormozgan, Iran.

Figure 2 Randomization of sampling points among transects.

Table 1 Relative abundance of waterbird observations recorded at HPA, Iran.

Species	Scientific name and authority	Seasonal relative abundance (%)				Total (%)
		Fall	Winter	Spring	Summer
Dalmatian Pelican	Pelecanus crispus Bruch, 1832	2.05	1.20	0.09	0.00	1.18
Great Cormorant	Phalacrocorax carbo Linnaeus, 1758	4.51	5.65	2.80	0.87	4.70
Socotra Cormorant	Phalacrocorax nigrogularis Ogilvie-Grant and Forbes, 1899	0.00	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.01
Greater Flamingo	Phoenicopterus roseus Pallas, 1811	0.61	1.09	2.05	0.00	1.01
Grey Heron	Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758	1.65	1.51	1.83	0.30	1.49
Purple Heron	Ardea purpurea Linnaeus, 1766	0.00	0.10	0.27	0.02	0.09
Great White Egret	Casmerodius albus Linnaeus, 1758	2.98	1.87	0.59	0.00	1.84
Western Reef Heron	Egretta gularis Bosc, 1792	3.08	2.22	4.22	0.67	2.54
Indian Pond Heron	Ardeola grayii Sykes, 1832	0.01	0.06	0.49	0.09	0.10
Black-crowned Night Heron	Nycticorax nycticorax Linnaeus, 1758	0.00	0.00	0.19	0.00	0.02
Eurasian Spoonbill	Platalea leucorodia Linnaeus, 1758	0.63	0.71	0.61	0.28	0.65
Eurasian Wigeon	Anas penelope Linnaeus, 1758	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.02
Crab Plover	Dromas ardeola Paykull, 1805	16.44	22.44	17.74	3.10	19.08
Eurasian Oystercatcher	Haematopus ostralegus Linnaeus, 1758	1.94	1.44	0.53	0.28	1.36
Black-winged Stilt	Himantopus himantopus Linnaeus, 1758	0.20	0.11	0.61	0.51	0.21
Pied Avocet	Recurvirostra avosetta Linnaeus, 1758	0.07	0.05	0.20	0.23	0.09
Great Stone-curlew	Esacus recurvirostris Cuvier, 1829	0.01	0.02	0.06	0.05	0.02
Red-wattled Lapwing	Vanellus indicus Boddaert, 1783	0.00	0.00	0.03	0.00	0.00
Grey Plover	Pluvialis squatarola Linnaeus, 1758	0.50	1.09	2.13	0.00	1.00
Ringed Plover	Charadrius hiaticula Linnaeus, 1758	0.03	0.03	0.30	0.09	0.06
Little Ringed Plover	Charadrius dubius Scopoli, 1786	0.00	0.01	0.89	0.16	0.12
Kentish Plover	Charadrius alexandrinus Linnaeus, 1758	1.33	0.64	0.04	0.00	0.68
Lesser Sand Plover	Charadrius mongolus Pallas, 1776	4.04	3.09	3.31	1.86	3.24
Greater Sand Plover	Charadrius leschenaultii Lesson, 1826	0.15	0.19	0.27	0.14	0.19
Bar-tailed Godwit	Limosa lapponica Linnaeus, 1758	1.71	5.09	0.16	0.00	3.35
Whimbrel	Numenius phaeopus Linnaeus, 1758	0.27	1.25	1.21	0.11	0.93
Eurasian Curlew	Numenius arquata Linnaeus, 1758	4.92	7.79	6.47	0.90	6.46
Redshank	Tringa totanus Linnaeus, 1758	2.31	1.64	0.75	0.71	1.62
Marsh Sandpiper	Tringa stagnatilis Bechstein, 1803	0.01	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02
Greenshank	Tringa nebularia Gunnerus, 1767	0.94	0.18	0.17	0.21	0.36
Terek Sandpiper	Tringa cinereus Güldenstädt, 1775	5.93	5.35	0.86	0.85	4.63
Common Sandpiper	Actitis hypoleucos Linnaeus, 1758	0.14	0.64	0.30	0.14	0.45
Ruddy Turnstone	Arenaria interpres Linnaeus, 1758	0.09	0.03	0.40	0.53	0.12
Sanderling	Calidris alba Pallas, 1764	0.03	0.18	0.00	0.00	0.11
Little Stint	Calidris minuta Leisler, 1812	0.20	0.17	0.00	0.00	0.14
Dunlin	Calidris alpina Linnaeus, 1758	14.04	9.32	1.82	0.00	8.86
Curlew Sandpiper	Calidris ferruginea Pontoppidan, 1763	0.08	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.03
Broad-billed Sandpiper	Limicola falcinellus Pontoppidan, 1763	6.22	4.73	0.46	0.00	4.23
Ruff	Philomachus pugnax Linnaeus, 1758	0.01	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.01
Sandpiper spp.	–	3.50	2.71	6.92	0.00	3.19
Common Gull	Larus canus Linnaeus, 1758	0.04	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.02
Caspian Gull	Larus cachinnans Pallas, 1811	0.87	2.96	2.19	0.67	2.21
Heuglini Gull	Larus heuglini Bree, 1876	4.86	4.79	8.26	0.85	4.92
Great Black-headed Gull	Larus ichthyaetus Pallas, 1773	3.97	1.96	2.68	2.62	2.56
Black-headed Gull	Larus ridibundus Linnaeus, 1766	0.21	0.12	4.61	4.82	1.01
Slender-billed Gull	Larus genei Brème, 1839	3.81	1.26	8.23	7.35	3.12
Gulls spp.	–	1.71	1.49	4.60	0.73	1.85
Whiskered Tern	Chlidonias hybridus Pallas, 1811	0.02	0.01	0.04	0.00	0.02
Gull-billed Tern	Gelochelidon nilotica Gmelin, 1789	0.61	0.85	0.26	0.28	0.68
Caspian Tern	Sterna caspia Pallas, 1770	0.52	0.29	0.19	0.05	0.31
Saunders's Little Tern	Sterna saundersi Hume, 1877	0.01	0.39	0.06	0.05	0.24
Great Crested Tern	Sterna bergii Lichtenstein, 1823	0.09	0.08	0.49	0.96	0.19
Common Tern	Sterna hirundo Linnaeus, 1758	0.09	0.02	0.81	0.57	0.17
Lesser Crested Tern	Sterna bengalensis Lesson, 1831	0.16	0.40	0.37	5.69	0.73
Sandwich Tern	Sterna sandvicensis Latham, 1787	0.00	0.05	0.00	0.00	0.03
White-winged Black Tern	Chlidonias leucopterus Temminck, 1815	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Bridled Tern	Sterna anaethetus Scopoli, 1786	1.32	1.49	6.18	53.40	5.81
White-cheeked Tern	Sterna repressa Hartert, 1916	0.20	0.06	1.99	9.76	1.03
Terns spp.	–	0.85	1.10	0.26	0.14	0.87

Figure 3 Comparing mean values of waders and seabirds among seasons at HPA. Note: Different letters represent statistical differences (P < 0.05).

Figure 4 Grouping of waterbird assemblages as defined by cluster analysis across seasonal changes at HPA, Iran.

Table 2 Contribution of waterbird species similarity at HPA mangrove habitat (SIMPER analysis).

Species	Average abundance	Average similarity	Contribution (%)	Cumulative (%)
Dromas ardeola	2832.30	5.69	17.30	17.30
Larus genei	462.50	3.54	10.75	28.05
Sterna anaethetus	862.00	3.01	9.14	37.19
Larus heuglini	730.50	2.21	6.72	43.91
Numenius arquata	959.75	1.91	5.79	49.70
Calidris alpina	1315.30	1.75	5.33	55.03
Larus ichthyaetus	380.25	1.57	4.79	59.82
Charadrius mongolus	481.75	1.50	4.55	64.37
Egretta gularis	377.25	1.25	3.80	68.17
Phalacrocorax carbo	697.75	1.19	3.63	71.79
Tringa cinereus	687.75	0.98	2.98	74.78
Larus ridibundus	149.75	0.87	2.64	77.42
Limicola falcinellus	628.25	0.71	2.17	79.59
Larus cachinnans	328.50	0.60	1.83	81.42
Sterna repressa	152.25	0.59	1.78	83.21
Ardea cinerea	221.25	0.58	1.75	84.96
Tringa totanus	241.00	0.56	1.69	86.65
Cosmerodius albus	273.75	0.41	1.24	87.90
Haematopus ostralegus	202.25	0.37	1.11	89.01
Phoenicopterus roseus	149.75	0.33	1.01	90.02

Table 3 World population estimates of selected species compared with the total number of individuals recorded in HPA during the period of study.

Species	World population	World population trends	Total individuals seen at HPA	Relative abundance (%) within world population
Pelecanus crispus	10,000–13,900	Decreasing	700	5.04–7
Phalacrocorax nigrogularis	220,000	Decreasing	4	>0.002
Numenius arquata	770,000–1,065,000	Decreasing	3839	0.36–0.5
Dromas ardeola	60,000–80,000	–	11,329	14.16–18.88
Tringa cinereus	160,000–1,200,000	–	2751	0.23–1.72
Limicola falcinellus	71,000–160,000	–	2513	1.57–3.54
Gelochelidon nilotica	150,000–420,000	–	404	0.1–0.27