Importance and Winter Ornithological Value of Lake El-Golea (Ghardaïa, Algerian Sahara

Abstract

This study is carried out on two winter period (2018-2019 and 2019-2020) in Lake El-Golea (Ghardaïa, northern Sahara of Algeria). Its objective is to determine the ornithological value of this lake and to in ferits importance in maintaining aquatic avifauna during the winter season. This inventory shows a diversity equivalent to forty-one species belonging to thirteen families and nine orders of which eighteen are protected by various Algerian and international laws. The most represented family is that of the Anatidae with twelve species while the family with the highest number is that of the Phenicopteridae represented only by one species, the Greater Flamingo (Phenicopterus roseus). These waterbirds occupy the lake in different ways: the insectivores are distributed on the banks and in the shallow areas of the lake while, the herbivores, polyphages and piscivores are concentrated in the deepest areas and in the centre of the lake. It is important to note, however, the presence of two vulnerable species, the Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) and the Marbled Duck (Marmaronetta angustirostris) and anear-threatened species, the Greater Ring- Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca).

Keywords

• species richness
• wintering
• wetlands
• waterbirds
• lake el-golea
• algerian sahara.