130925-studie-wildlife-comeback-in-europe

and east Ukraine to south Russia) [3] . Elsewhere,
Dalmatian pelican distribution includes west and
northeast Turkey and extends east to Kazakhstan
and west Mongolia and China [3] .
Habitat preferences and general densities
Breeding colonies are found on lakes, estuaries and
deltas, mostly in fresh water [4] , but some colonies
in Albania, Romania, Greece and Turkey are found
in brackish lagoons [8] . Dalmatian pelicans prefer
to breed and roost in reed beds, floating islands
of vegetation or sand banks that are completely
surrounded by water and are free from disturbance
and inaccessible to mammalian predators
such as foxes, wild boars and jackals [4, 9] . They are
highly faithful to traditional breeding grounds,
though colonies may relocate if a site becomes
degraded or disturbed [4] .
Legal protection and conservation status
The Dalmatian pelican is listed in Appendix I of
CITES, Annex I of the EU Birds Directive, Annex
II of the Bern Convention, Annex I and II of the
Convention on Migratory Species, under which
it is covered by the African-Eurasian Waterbird
Agreement (AEWA). The population in Europe
No. of breeding pairs
2,000
2,000
1,000
1,000
500
0
1987
1992
1996
2000
2004
(Black Sea and Mediterranean) is currently listed
in column A (categories 1a–c) in the AEWA action
plan.
Abundance:
current status and changes
Dalmatian pelicans suffered a strong decline in
Europe during the 19 th and 20 th centuries, when
many colonies disappeared [2–4, 7, 9] . The decline
2008
2012
100
80
60
40
20
0
Population index (%)
Figure 1.
Number of Dalmatian
Pelican breeding pairs
in south-eastern
Europe since 1994
and the International
Waterbird Census
population index [14]
showing the trend of
the entire population
in Europe from 1987
to 2006.
193