Análisis de metapoblaciones de aves acuáticas en La Mancha Húmeda: importancia de la disponibilidad de humedales

Abstract

La Mancha Húmeda combines a surface, density and diversity of wetlands unique in the Iberian Peninsula, so as abundant and diverse waterfowl. Despite degradation and/or threats to wetlands and populations, management is concentrated in a few sites. Our hypothesis is that it is the complex, and not individual wetlands, which attracts and maintains this biodiversity. To contrast it, Levins’ model of metapopulations is applied to 10 species of different functional groups and 10 representative wetlands along four hydrological cycles, one of them very humid. When analyzing the variation in the counts of birds, colonization and extinction rates, proportion of occupied habitats and habitat availability, it was observed that: 1. The method has been validated against the dynamics of wintering and summer populations. 2. Some species show a classical metapopulation strategy in the study period. 3. Loss of habitats may mean a high risk of decline in the populations of some species. It is concluded that the survival of many species depends on the maintenance of the asynchronous functioning of the wetlands, for which management at the wetland network level is necessary.