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Impact of mosquito control operations on waterbirds in a Camargue nature reserve

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Abstract

The Domaine de la Palissade is a 700-ha nature reserve located at the mouth of the Rhône river in southern France. Since 2006, the tidal wetlands have been sprayed with Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) and water level fluctuations minimized to reduce mosquito nuisance. Aerial spraying of VectoBac® 12AS (32 ITU/ha) is carried out 10 to 23 times a year, whenever Ochlerotatus caspius and Oc. detritus larvae develop, covering between 611 and 1937 cumulated hectares. Long-term trends (2000–2013) in monthly abundance of 50 bird species were compared with two nearby nature reserves that served as controls. A significant decrease in abundance of eight species (from 1958 to 941 monthly counts) was attributed to mosquito control operations and more specifically to: (1) aircraft disturbance caused by aerial spraying in a proportion of 36%, affecting mostly ducks; (2) stabilization of water levels in a proportion of 34%, affecting mostly grebes; and/or (3) reduced food resources caused by Bti effects in a proportion of 30%, affecting mostly waders. The European coot, affected negatively by all three factors, suffered the highest decline. Alternatively, the lower water levels and higher salinity resulting from the reduced exchanges with the Rhône River had a positive impact on five species, mostly gull and shorebirds (from 201 to 280 monthly observations). Overall, this study suggests a 23% significant decrease in waterbird abundance due to mosquito control, in spite of the collaboration between site managers and the operator of mosquito control to minimize negative effects on the non-target fauna.

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to the Parc natural régional de Camargue for the financial and technical coordination of this project, to EID-Méditerranée for their collaboration regarding mosquito control operations, and to the managers of Tour du Valat (Damien Cohez) and Vaccarès (Société Nationale pour la Protection de la Nature) reserves for kindly providing their long-term data on bird abundance. Thanks are extended to Loïc Willm and Maud Dessein for their contribution to tables and figures, and to all the people who contributed to collect field data: Jean-Christophe Briffaud, Antoine Arnaud, Thomas Galewski, Nelly Dal Pos, Emmanuel Vialet, Xavier Bonnet, Vincent Grapin, Denis Lafage and Lydie Catala-Malkas.

Funding

This study was funded by the Parc naturel régional de Camargue.

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Author notes

  1. Claire Tétrel

    Present address: , Office français de la biodiversité, Mas des Grandes Cabanes du Vaccarès Sud, 13460, Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tour du Valat Research Institute, Le Sambuc, 13200, Arles, France

    Brigitte Poulin & Gaëtan Lefebvre

  2. Syndicat Mixte pour la Gestion du Domaine de la Palissade, Domaine de la Palissade, 13129, Salin de Giraud, France

    Claire Tétrel

Authors
  1. Brigitte Poulin
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  2. Claire Tétrel
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  3. Gaëtan Lefebvre
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Contributions

CT contributed to the study conception and design as well as data collection regarding disturbance assessment; data analyses were performed by GL; data interpretation and writing of the manuscript were performed by BP. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript and approved its final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brigitte Poulin.

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Poulin, B., Tétrel, C. & Lefebvre, G. Impact of mosquito control operations on waterbirds in a Camargue nature reserve. Wetlands Ecol Manage 30, 1049–1064 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-021-09834-4

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