Identifying important habitats for waterbird conservation at a Greek Regional Nature Park

Table 4 Foraging habitat differentiation among 14 species of waterbirds wintering at the Vourkari inlet, Saronikos Gulf, Greece

Habitat class	Species ranking by habitat use
Open water (depth 0–2 m)¹	MA^a > CS^a > GH^ab > MG^bc > BG^bc > LE^c > GC^c > SG^cd > ST^d > CR^d > YG^d > DU^d > GG^d
Open water (depth 2–4 m)²	GG^a > SG^ab > GC^ab > ST^b > YG^b > BG^b > MG^b
Open water (depth 4–6 m)²	ST^a > YG^a > GC^ab > GG^ab > SG^bc > BG^c > MG^c
Mud³	LS^a > DU^a > CR^a > BG^b > MG^b > YG^b > LE^b > GH^b > SG^b
Mud with rocky substrate³	MG^a > BG^a > GH^a > DU^a > LE^a > CR^a > LS^a > SG^a > YG^a
Halophytic vegetation⁴	LE^a > MA^b > CR^b > DU^b > LS^b > YG^b
Pools and channels⁵	CS^a > MG^ab > LS^ab > BG^ab > CR^ab > DU^ab > LE^ab > SG^b > YG^b > GH^b

Species were pairwise compared with two-tailed t-tests and ranked in descending order of use of each habitat class
Species not sharing a common letter differ significantly in the use of each habitat class. Bonferroni adjustment for multiple testing: ¹p < 0.0006; ²p < 0.0024; ³p < 0.0014; ⁴p < 0.0033; ⁵p < 0.0011
LE Little Egret, GH Grey Heron, GC Great Cormorant, GG Great Crested Grebe, CS Common Shelduck, MA Mallard, YG Yellow-legged Gull, SG Slender-billed Gull, BG Black-headed Gull, MG Mediterranean Gull, ST Sandwich Tern, CR Common Redshank, LS Little Stint, DU Dunlin

ISSN: 2053-7166