Abstract
Lake Junín is famous for the abundance and diversity of breeding, staging and wintering waterbirds. The lake supports the entire world population of three species or subspecies: Junín Grebe Podiceps taczanowskii, Junín Rail Laterallus tuerosi and the endemic subspecies of the White-tufted Grebe Rollandia rolland morrisoni. Surveys undertaken in the 1930s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s confirmed the lake's importance in the Andes, however there has been no recent assessment of its waterbird community. We undertook waterbird counts between 6 and 20 February 2014 from the lakeshore and by boat. Despite using differing survey methods, we nevertheless conclude that the relative abundance of waterbird species has changed dramatically compared to earlier counts. Most notably, the Junín Grebe has experienced a major decline since the 1930s when the species was considered extremely abundant and another native fish-eating species the White-tufted Grebe also appears to have declined. In contrast the Northern Silvery Grebe Podiceps juninensis, classified as 'Near Threatened', has apparently become more abundant. Numbers of Puna Teal Spatula puna and Common Gallinule Gallinula galeata seem to have crashed, presumably reflecting the general loss of submerged vegetation. In spite of a major decline in waterbirds overall, the Junín area holds numbers of migratory shorebirds, perhaps as a consequence of local hunting restrictions and awareness campaigns. Lake Junín is a candidate for listing on the Montreux Record under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland showing serious change in ecological character. Management planning should proceed to balance conflicting interests at the lake. Actions to re-establish a clear water column by reducing eutrophication (from settlements in the catchment) as well as sedimentation and heavy metals (from upstream mining) will contribute to improving ecological functions and to secure waterbirds including the endemics.
Originalsprog | Engelsk |
---|---|
Tidsskrift | Bird Conservation International |
Vol/bind | 29 |
Udgave nummer | 1 |
Sider (fra-til) | 83-99 |
Antal sider | 17 |
ISSN | 0959-2709 |
DOI | |
Status | Udgivet - 2019 |
Bibliografisk note
Funding Information:We are grateful to Dr Tony Fox, Aarhus University, who improved the manuscript and language. We thank Ronald Medrano, Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (SERNANP) for his support for the surveys. Fieldwork was carried out with invaluable assistance from Cesar Donato Zevallos Bashualdo. Moreover, Duanne Martinez and Rolando Tito Uribe, SERNANP, Shannon Behmke from the US Peace Corps joined us for shorter periods and the latter did invaluable translation. Thanks to the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund for sponsoring part of the project. ECOAN thanks the American Bird Conservancy and BirdLife International for support to their conservation activities. Many thanks to Signe Dinesen and Jens Dinesen for their great company in the field. A car and boat provided by National protected Areas Service of Peru (SERNANP) was used for part of the survey. Finally we thank two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments.
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© 2017 BirdLife International.