Nomad Blackboards: The birds of Marimurtra
The birds of Marimurtra
Marimurtra is a paradise for birds. Between 8 and 12 million birds breed in Catalonia each year and 22% of these birds breed in the Marimurtra Botanical Garden area. Therefore, it is the perfect scientific project to refer to this important part of the garden’s biodiversity.
In 2019, garden volunteers started a bird-watching project that continues today. In each area (the Garden is divided into three main areas) there is a bird feeder where the birds are observed once a week, always at the same time. The type of bird that has been seen and the quantity are being reported and posted every Friday on the Zarzales de los Jardíns website.
It is a citizen science platform where data like this from all over Catalonia is gathered and is available to both citizens and scientists.
The data on the most seen birds in the garden, which you can see on the board, is from the year 2022, where the volunteers also did their own research on the question: What influences the abundance of birds?
These are the main conclusions they drew from their research:
| RESULTS | CONCLUSIONS |
|---|---|
| The three species of birds most seen in the garden are sedentary birds and remain during the winter in their country of origin. Other birds such as the pupilla (Upupa epops) settle in southern Africa during the winter season, so we see them less around Marimurtra. | The season influences the abundance of birds present in Marimurtra. |
| In the second garden there is a grass sprinkler near the bird watching site. When the lawn sprinkler is on, fewer birds are seen than when it is off. | Sprinkling grass influences bird abundance |
| When bird watchers tried a different type of bird food, they did not see any birds in a time and place range, where they have seen many birds | Bird feeding influences bird abundance |
Sources:
- https://pecbms.info/the-third-catalan-breeding-bird-atlas-was-published/
- Bird watching project sheet
- Pere Alzina
Biodiversity in Marimurtra
A functioning ecosystem consists of the interaction of flora and fauna. This perfect circle, the population of species that regulate each other and maintain the ecosystem that hosts so many living beings, has been evolving over millions of years in which the species on this planet have lived and died.
In a botanical garden like this, humans help the flora and fauna to interact, because a garden is not a natural ecosystem in which the ecological balance would be maintained, and although this garden is 100 years old, this time is not enough to evolve a fully functioning ecosystem. An example that shows very well how humans can help flora and fauna interact are the new amphibious bridges installed on the rafts in this garden. They help the amphibians to enter the rafts, which is necessary, because the rafts are also man-made and therefore not yet part of a natural ecosystem. With steps like this, botanical gardens try to imitate ecosystems. Other key elements to achieve an imitation of a functional ecosystem that are acquired in botanical gardens are to provide knowledge and experience in plant taxonomy, horticulture, biodiversity inventory, conservation biology, restoration ecology and ethnobotany.
Work imitating an ecological system can also help restore them, which will be necessary, because today more and more wild places and ecosystems around the world are destroyed and degraded and then cannot support life on earth.
Sources:
