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Biodiversity is under enormous pressure from multiple threats including climate change, land use change, habitat alterations and hunting pressure. One way to ease this pressure on biodiversity and to mitigate the effects of above-mentioned threats, is to establish protected areas. Importance of protected increases many folds in regions that are considered as biodiversity poor regions i.e. deserts. Protected areas have long been a major pillar of biodiversity conservation strategies; the Houbara Protected Area (HPA) is one of the 13 terrestrial protected areas in Abu Dhabi Emirate officially declared in 2017. However, no information regarding the status of biodiversity in the HPA has been communicated to the research fraternity. During the present study, surveys were conducted to fill this gap. The survey area was divided in to 50 grids of 5 × 5 km2 and monitoring surveys were undertaken from January to December 2016. A total of 14 bi-monthly to monthly surveys were conducted within HPA and 196 species of different taxonomical groups were recorded. A year-long survey yielded highly diversified fauna and flora from 19 different habitat types (H) 1.32, (E) 2.28, Shannon Diversity Index). We looked at the influence of habitat breadth and temperature on the species richness and abundance, results shows that in desert setup heterogeneity of habitat is not an important factor in maintaining the biodiversity as total number of individuals as well as species were similar in the grids that have different number of habitat types (df = 34.3, t = -0.472, P = 0.640). However, we did find a positive impact of mean monthly temperature on species richness (df = 154, t = 2.53, P = 0.012). Our study highlights the importance of temperature in driving species abundance and richness in protected area. Abundance and species richness are similar in protected areas indicating that protection is allowing species to explore the heterogenous habitats. Overall, we can conclude that protection is beneficial for species.

SummaryUnited Arab Emirates is an important range country for the ‘Vulnerable’ Socotra Cormorant Phalacrocorax nigrogularis and Abu Dhabi Emirate holds most of the remaining breeding colonies. Emirate-wide monitoring of all breeding colonies was undertaken annually for 11 breeding seasons from 2006–2007 to 2016–2017 to monitor the status of breeding colonies and estimate the nesting population. Breeding was recorded in 10 colonies that were used intermittently with an average of four (± 1.3 SD) colonies active each year. The highest number of eight active colonies was recorded in 2016–2017. Establishment of two new breeding colonies on Butinah and Digala in 2016–2017 and recolonisation of three previously inactive colonies during the monitoring period emphasised the ability of the species to relocate and colonise suitable sites. Continued threats at some breeding colonies caused abandonment and subsequent relocation, resulting in a gradual shift of breeding colonies to safer areas. Presently, most of the breeding sites (62%) with an increased number of breeding birds are found in colonies with restricted access. The Emirate-wide nesting population witnessed a 10-fold increase in the last decade; after an initial decline in 2006–2007 it increased from about 5,000 pairs in 2007–2008 to nearly 52,000 nesting pairs in 2016–2017. Combined with the nesting population from the Siniya colony, the overall UAE nesting population is estimated at 60,000 to 70,000 pairs, nearly half of the global breeding population. Further augmentation of the current breeding numbers is possible if breeding colonies remain safe from human disturbance and invasive predators. For long-term conservation of Socotra Cormorant, protection of all remaining colony sites, including inactive ones, is important in addition to minimising disturbance along with widespread public awareness to change the people’s perception of the species as a competitor to commercial fisheries.

Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) monitoring was undertaken in the United Arab Emirates from 2003 to 2015 at 36 permanent sites to find key wintering and breeding sites. Bul Syayeef Marine Protected Area with monthly mean of 6553 (±3594) flamingos followed by Al Wathba Wetland Reserve with 1228 (±1190) flamingos topped the list. In addition, Shahama Wetland and Al Aryam Mudflats in Abu Dhabi Emirate form a complex of four nearby sites that hold the majority of nearly 15,000–20,000 birds wintering in the country. Lagoons (Khors) in the northern emirates are the other key wintering sites, that suffer habitat destruction and high disturbance. Breeding has been sporadic and infrequent since the first breeding attempt in 1993. Greater Flamingos have bred successfully only in the Abu Dhabi Emirate on 10 occasions at three sites with the highest eight breeding attempts at Al Wathba and one each at Shahama and Bul Syayeef. A total of 1,972 young have fledged with a high overall breeding success of 43%. The...

Systematic conservation planning is essential in the justification and design of protected areas, especially in an era where every piece of land or water is at a high premium. We used satellite tracking data and regular monitoring of Greater flamingos into the spatial prioritization planning tool Marxan to identify the most important zones for the conservation of the greater flamingo and many other species of waterbirds and marine habitats in one of the economically important areas in the coastal zone of Abu Dhabi. Locations from 10 satellite tracked flamingos and monthly count data since 2009 in the Bul Syayeef area showed a predominant use of a relatively small area which when integrated in Marxan provided optimum boundary with minimum cost. Marxan identified 1, 5, 10 and 15 ha planning units and provided the best solution with 15 ha. The reduced total area of 145 km2 is nearly 40% of the originally proposed area for protection, is more pragmatic and easy to establish, given the high importance of the area for economic development. Using approximately the same boundary, the proposed area was declared a Ramsar site in September 2016 and was subsequently declared a protected area through a government decree in November 2017. Keywords: Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus, Satellite tracking, Conservation planning, Zoning, Marxan, United Arab Emirates

We provide confirmed sightings of the elusive Arabian sand cat (Felis margarita harrisoni) using trail camera traps in Baynouna Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. A total of 46 photographs were obtained using five camera traps, during 278 trap nights, between March and December 2015. A total of three individuals were recorded of which one was confirmed as a male. About 80 % of the sightings were between 00:00 and 06:00 h, and 39 % were recorded during the full moon phase. These are the first confirmed sightings of the presence of Arabian sand cat in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi Emirate after an unconfirmed sighting reported in 2005.

The Arabian Gulf Coast of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, consists of highly productive seagrass (Halodule universis, Halophila ovalis and Halophila stripulacea) and mangrove (Avicennia marina) habitats that are essential breeding and non-breeding areas for vast numbers of waterbirds. Due to their dependence on these coastal habitats, waterbirds such as the Western Reef Heron (Egretta gularis) can act as important bioindicators of ecosystem health. The estimated global population size of Western Reef Herons is roughly 10,000 to 100,000 individuals. While populations are currently considered stable, many important breeding and overwintering areas of the Western Reef Heron remain unprotected. Line transect counts were conducted at study sites along the Arabian Gulf Coast of Abu Dhabi monthly throughout 2006-2015. Using a mixed effects model, it was found that both year (F1, 1132 = 29.15; P = < 0.001) and month (F11, 1132 = 2.32; P = 0. 011) had significant influences on the number of birds counted at any given site; however, there was no statistically significant interaction between year and month (F11,1132 = 1.24; P = 0.253). While there was an overall non-significant decrease in counts across years (t495 = -1.40; P = 0.163), there were significant inverse relationships between year and count at the Al Aryam (t485 = -13.55; P = < 0.001) and Abu Al Abyad (t485 = -2.23; P = 0.026) sites, suggesting annual relative abundance is declining in these areas. Further research and monitoring of the Abu Dhabi Western Reef Heron population is recommended due to continued destruction and degradation of critical waterbird habitat.

Following recovery and successful rehabilitation, a young Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis was tagged with a 45 g GPS satellite transmitter to track its migration and identify potential wintering and summering areas of the species passing through the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study is part of a larger study on understanding migration of important birds of prey species from the UAE. The satellite-tagged Steppe Eagle was released near the town of Al Ain, UAE on 5 January 2009 and was tracked until 6 November 2010. Two complete spring and autumn migrations were tracked in addition to its onward autumn migration from the UAE. The tagged eagle continued its autumn migration from its release site and reached Yemen after stopovers in Saudi Arabia. Unlike other Steppe Eagles, the bird did not cross the strait of Bab-al-Mandeb and wintered in the area before undertaking its first spring migration. In the second spring migration in 2010, the bird migrated along the Suez–Eilat route and demonstrated a loop migration. The bird spent the summer on the steppes in Kazakhstan, with marked differences in the home ranges between 2009 and 2010, whereas wintering areas used in 2009 and 2010 in Tanzania were overlapping.Keywords: Africa, Aquila nipalensis, migration, satellite tracking, Steppe Eagle, United Arab Emirates, wintering sitesOSTRICH 2014, 85(2): 131–138