Impact of predation by Cattle Egret Bubulcus Ibis L. on wildlife of farmlands in Chlef region (Algeria)

Abstract

The study was conducted in the region of Chlef which is located approximately at 200 km NorthWest of Algiers and at 36º 12' North latitude and 1 ° 19' East longitude. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of predation of Cattle Egret on crop pests in four different agricultural areas of the region (cereal, potato, citrus orchard and uncultivated field), from the comparison between preys consumed by the predator and the potential preys available in these environments.Trappings of preys made in the area studied have revealed that the abundance of potential preys differs from one habitat to another, although not exploited environment is richer than the others. The calculation of the diversity with the index of Shannon-Wiever and the similarity with the index of community of Jaccard have shown that the preys consumed by the cattle egret are only partly similar to the set of potential preys. It is possible that this bird looks for its preys in other areas different from those surveyed. The calculation of attendance of agricultural environments by the Cattle Egret showed that this bird is very opportunistic; it uses these areas in a well-planned manner, depending on the availability of preys. Thus, the impact of its predation on wildlife and especially the insect fauna of different agricultural habitats, although it differs from one medium to another, remains important and beneficial to local culture.