Shorebirds and Seabirds? Ecology and Conservation

GARCÍA GERMÁN OSCAR; ZALBA SERGIO; MARBÁN LEANDRO; MARTÍNEZ-CURCI NATALIA; SIMONETTI PÍA

The Bahía Blanca Estuary. Ecology and Biodiversity

Springer

Año: 2021; p. 327 - 358

Shorebirds and seabirds belonging to the order Charadriiformes are probably someof the most conspicuous animals inhabiting Bahía Blanca Estuary. This extremelydiverse order of birds is second only to passerines in number of families and species(Lovette 2016). Having a global distribution that ranges from the Arctic to theAntarctic, they can be found in almost any terrestrial habitat type, as well as in thesea. Consistently, they exhibit remarkably varied breeding strategies and migrationsystems. Although the monophyly of Charadriiformes is well established, the relationshipof the families within this order has been controversial. According to themost recent evidence (Paton et al. 2003; Thomas et al. 2004; Hackett et al. 2008),the order consists of three major groups: Charadrii (includes plovers, oystercatchers,avocets, stilts, thick-knees, and sheathbills); Scolopaci (includes sandpipers,seedsnipes, jacanas, and painted-snipes); and Lari (includes skuas, skimmers, gulls,and terns). The former two groups constitute what are commonly known as shorebirds,while the latter consists of seabirds. This chapter is organized into three sectionsin which we will describe some relevant ecological aspects of shorebirds(Sect. 13.2) and seabirds (Sect. 13.3) with emphasis on the species of Bahía BlancaEstuary. Finally, we will analyze their main conservation challenges both at globaland local contexts (Sect. 13.4).