TITLE:
Breeding Habitat Use of Little Tern along Enshunada Coast-Tenryu River Continuum in Relation to Dam Development
AUTHORS:
Guangwei Huang
KEYWORDS:
Little Tern, Riverine Habitat, Coastal Habitat, Dam, Erosion, Vegetation
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.6 No.3,
March
12,
2015
ABSTRACT: Breeding
habitat of the Little Tern in a coast-river continuum was studied in relation
to dam development. A habitat shift from coast to river occurred decades after
dam construction as the dam-caused coastal erosion became manifested. On the
other hand, the riverine habitat was affected by dam both positively and
negatively. The positive aspect is the reduction of inundation risk for the
habitat, and the negative effect is the vegetation development on the habitat.
As a result, the bird did not abandon the riverine habitat although its
physical characteristics may be considered as suboptimal. In addition,
reasoning was given to explain why an artificially created habitat was not used
by the bird. A general message resulting from this study is that species adaptive
behaviors should be taken into consideration in assessing environmental impacts
caused by human activities such as dam development.