New wetlands rapidly provide food for waterbirds! – new paper in Restoration Ecology
Can newly created wetlands quickly become valuable feeding habitats for waterbirds? A new study published in Restoration Ecology by members of our lab provides encouraging evidence that they can!
The research, conducted by PhD students Vincent Dolmans and Lisa Partoens, together with former MSc student Lara Van Goethem, shows that newly created wetlands can rapidly develop abundant populations of aquatic invertebrates that serve as essential prey for waterbirds. Remarkably, these prey populations can establish within just two years, and younger wetlands can even attract more waterbirds than older ones.
These findings provide an important message for nature conservation: wetland restoration for birds works! Creating new wetlands can rapidly generate the food resources needed by threatened waterbirds such as lapwings, ruffs and snipes. The study also highlights the value of maintaining wetlands at different stages of development to support diverse ecological communities.
Read the paper: Dolmans et al. (2026), Rapid establishment of waterbird prey populations in newly created wetlands, Restoration Ecology.
