What species would benefit the most from artificial breeding sites
[like the following example] in Australia?
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=nw20080114165407497C370834
Lesser flamingos breed on artificial island
January 15 2008 at 08:00AM
Johannesburg - Lesser flamingos have started breeding on an artificial
island at the Kamfers Dam, the Northern Cape Department of Tourism,
Environment & Conservation said on Monday.
A departmental ornithologist, Mark Anderson, said the breeding
flamingoes at Kamfers Dam were of historic significance because it was
only the sixth breeding locality for the near-threatened lesser
flamingo in the world.
The construction of the flamingo island at Kamfers Dam, a large,
permanent wetland area north of Kimberley, was proposed by Anderson
and he has been responsible for managing this project.
More than 500 young flamingos have hatched with thousands more still
to hatch, said Anderson.
This was the first time that lesser flamingos had successfully bred in
South Africa and the first time that they had bred on an artificial
island.
Lesser flamingos breed at Etosha Pan (Namibia), Sua Pan (Botswana) and
Lake Natron (Tanzania), as well as at the Zinzuwadia and Purabcheria
salt pans in north-western India, and now at the Kamfers Dam.
Lesser flamingos do not breed annually at the five other sites in
Africa and India, mainly because these are only irregularly inundated
during periods of good rainfall. They only breed infrequently at some
sites, such as at the Etosha Pan in Namibia.
The lesser flamingo was classified as "Near Threatened" in the 2006
World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Species, said
Anderson.
The island is 250m x 25m and is s-shaped. The island, the third of its
type in the world, was built by Ekapa Mining.
A submersed pump, powered by three solar panels, provides water for
four ponds on the island, and ensures wet clay that the flamingos use
to construct their nest turrets. - Sapa
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