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

Abstract

Mangrove habitats are host to many waterbirds around the globe. However, the roles of mangrove habitat structures in association with variation in individuals and their community of waterbirds have not been examined in detail. The objective of this study was to determine the abundance, diversity and evenness of waterbirds in an Avicennia mangrove habitat. The study was conducted using a point count method at Hara Protected Area (HPA) in Iran for 1 year. A total of 59,387 waterbirds observations, belonging to 56 species, were recorded and categorized based on different seasons, where 13,825 (49 spp.), 34,267 (54 spp.), 6939 (46 spp.) and 4356 (35 spp.) observations were recorded in the different seasons of fall, winter, spring and summer respectively. In total, 80.98% of individual observations had occurred during the migratory season. Dromas ardeola (11,329 observation; 19.08%) and Calidris alpina (5261 observation; 8.86%) were the most abundant, while three species including Phalacrocorax nigrogularis (4...