Homepage RIVM Homepage CBS Homepage WUR
Nature and the Environment > Habitat fragmentation Print version
Search Compendium. Type in one or more keywords.
Scroll through the Environmental Data Compendium below via the menus.
The sitemap of the Environmental Data Compendium
List of updates to the Environmental Data Compendium

The sedge warbler and the fragmentation of marshes

Trends


The sedge warbler is a songbird of swampy thickets and rank vegetation in marshland. The birds migrate to West Africa, where they spend the winter. Many die if there is severe drought in the Sahel area. After the 1982-1984 Sahelian drought it was found that the recovery of breeding pair numbers was related to the fragmentation of habitats in the Netherlands. In the larger, less fragmented marshland areas the populations recover better than those in the small marshland areas that are far apart from each other.

Though the sedge warbler is on the Red List of birds, in recent years its numbers have been recovering.

Technical note


The information is based on national bird censuses (Ecological Monitoring Network). Foppen (2001) analysed 180 areas scattered across the Netherlands and related these to meteorological data from the Sahel in West Africa. The years with droughts are indicated in the figure. Prior to 1986 there were no statistics available to enable the difference resulting from fragmentation to be seen.

References


  • Reference Foppen, R.P.B. (2001). Bridging gaps in fragmented marshland. Applying landscape ecology for bird conservation. Alterra scientific contributions 4. Wageningen.

Relevant sections and indicators in the Environmental Data Compendium
This page was last changed on 21 April 2004  (version 01).