2002

Ecology of threatened species

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The landscape ecology of the northern bald ibis

Magnify imageNorthern bald ibis habitat at Souss-Massa, Morocco
The Souss-Massa National Park showing how it varies in suitability for feeding bald ibis

Around half of the world population of the northern bald ibis is found in the Souss-Massa National Park in southern Morocco. Here, the RSPB has been working with SEO, the Spanish BirdLife partner, and the Moroccan Department of Eaux et Fôrets to develop and implement a park management plan.

The ibises feed in open semi-desert steppe and nest and roost on isolated sea cliffs. They feed on invertebrates and reptiles found on the ground and in sparse vegetation. People from the local villages also use the steppe for grazing their stock, for fuel collection and low intensity cereal cultivation. Occasionally nomads arrive in the area with their herds of camels.

To ensure appropriate long-term management in the Park, it is important to understand how the human and ibis uses of the steppes interact. With a team from the University of Derby, a model of ibis foraging areas in the park has been developed. This uses known locations of feeding ibises, collected by our locally-recruited field team, detailed vegetation measurements from plots randomly located in the Park, soil and topographical maps and satellite images to produce a map showing areas which vary in their suitability for ibises.

Grazing and/or cultivation appear to be essential to maintain a medium cover of low growing vegetation selected by the birds

The map clearly shows that the most suitable feeding areas are within a narrow coastal strip of the Park. The model also predicts that suitability decreases with distance from the roost or breeding colony but also, interestingly, with distance from villages. Cultivated areas are rarely used but fallows (cultivated areas left fallow for one or two years) are favoured as much as semi-natural steppes. Grazing and/or cultivation appear to be essential to maintain a medium cover of low growing vegetation selected by the birds. Thus, the manner in which villagers manage the land around them clearly in.uences its use by the ibises.


Rice PM, Aghnaj A, Bowden CGR, Smith KW, Fox HR and Moore HM (2002) The landscape ecology of the Northern Bald Ibis Geronticus eremita in the Sous-Massa National Park, southern Morocco. In: Chamberlain D and Wilson A (eds) Avian Landscape Ecology: pure and applied issues in the large-scale ecology of birds. International Association for Landscape Ecology (UK): 264–272.