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Environmental determinants of greater flamingo foraging behaviour in an estuarine intertidal sandflat
Includes bibliographical references.
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| Main Author: | |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Biological Sciences
2015
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| _version_ | 1867613262883848192 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Liang, Andrea Yankee |
| author2 | Pillay, Deena |
| author_browse | Liang, Andrea Yankee Pillay, Deena |
| author_facet | Pillay, Deena Liang, Andrea Yankee |
| author_sort | Liang, Andrea Yankee |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Includes bibliographical references. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/12725 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:21.255Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | Department of Biological Sciences |
| publisherStr | Department of Biological Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/12725 Environmental determinants of greater flamingo foraging behaviour in an estuarine intertidal sandflat Liang, Andrea Yankee Pillay, Deena Includes bibliographical references. The impact of flamingo predation on the benthic community has been well researched through the use of caging and exclusion experiments. However, there is still very little known about flamingo spatial foraging preferences and the environmental cues that determine them. The purpose of this study was to investigate the foraging distributions of non-breeding Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber roseus) within one of their southern African overwintering grounds, the Heuningnes Estuary. This was achieved by comparing spatial level differences in the abundance and size of flamingo foraging pits across sites and shore positions, and by examining the effects of soil moisture content and sediment profile as environmental cues driving flamingo foraging behaviour. Pit abundance was obtained as a total count per quadrat, and pit size was measured from photographs taken in the field. Sediment cores provided soil moisture content measurements, while sediment profile was measured as the angle of elevation from each shore position to the high water mark. It was found that flamingos fed homogeneously across all four sites, but restricted their foraging to the high shore and upper mid shore regions of the intertidal. Soil moisture content was not a significant driver of flamingo foraging behaviour, but sediment profile was significant. It was proposed that flamingo foraging preference for the high shore and upper mid shore regions was because: (1) the sediment profiles were flatter, (2) the macrofaunal prey densities were greater and (3) these shore positions coincided with the required depth for stamp-feeding, which was linked to the high tide and the time of day at which foraging occurred. This study provides novel information regarding the environmental drivers of Greater Flamingo foraging behaviour and the spatial use of the intertidal sandflats of the Heuningnes Estuary. Furthermore, this knowledge could be useful for the management of flamingo foraging grounds of the De Mond Nature Reserve. 2015-05-04T07:14:05Z 2015-05-04T07:14:05Z 2014 Bachelor Thesis Honours BSc (Hons) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12725 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Liang, Andrea Yankee Environmental determinants of greater flamingo foraging behaviour in an estuarine intertidal sandflat |
| thesis_degree_str | Bachelor's / Honours |
| title | Environmental determinants of greater flamingo foraging behaviour in an estuarine intertidal sandflat |
| title_full | Environmental determinants of greater flamingo foraging behaviour in an estuarine intertidal sandflat |
| title_fullStr | Environmental determinants of greater flamingo foraging behaviour in an estuarine intertidal sandflat |
| title_full_unstemmed | Environmental determinants of greater flamingo foraging behaviour in an estuarine intertidal sandflat |
| title_short | Environmental determinants of greater flamingo foraging behaviour in an estuarine intertidal sandflat |
| title_sort | environmental determinants of greater flamingo foraging behaviour in an estuarine intertidal sandflat |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12725 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT liangandreayankee environmentaldeterminantsofgreaterflamingoforagingbehaviourinanestuarineintertidalsandflat |