Biodiversity survey in the Medjerda river at the mouth of the artificial lake “Sidi Salem dam” Table of contents 6 I. Summary 8 II . 10 1. Présentation de la zone d’étude 11 2. Localisation géographique 11 3. Relief 12 4. Hydrologie 13 5. Climatologie 13 6. Végétation 15 17 1. IIntroductionntroduction 17 2. Matériel et méthodes 1919 3. Résultats 19 41 1. IIntroductionntroduction 41 2. Matériel et méthodes 41 3. Résultats 44 4. DDiscussioniscussion 48 53 1. Introduction 53 2. Méthodologie 53 3. Structure taxonomique de l’herpétofaune de la zone du projet 5544 cologique et biodiversité de la zone d’étude 56 5. Conclusion 6593 Introduction 63 63 1. Introduction 634 2. Méthodologie 63 Habitats3. Résult asurveyts et discussion 7624 Introduction 72 72 Suggested citation 1. Introdu ction 702 2. Méthodologie 72 Bibliography3. Résultats 870 Synthetic data on the mission 88 Ouni, R., Dalhoumi, R., Nea, A., Hmida, G., Oueslati, W., Gmati, R., Ben Aba, W., Ben Marzou, A. et Nouira, S. (2017). Biodiversity survey in the Medjerda river at the mouth of the articial lake “Sidi Salem dam” . Exploralis, Tunis, 88 pp. Page 4 - MED’EX-RS1-2017 - Exploralis Page5 PrefacePréface Cet ouvrage est édité dans le cadre du programme PPI-OSCAN « Programme des Petites ThisInitiatives publication pour is lespart Organisations of the “PPI-OSCAN: de la SociétéSmall scale Civile initiatives d’Afrique for Civildu NordSociety », misOrganisations en œuvre inpar North le Centre Africa”, de set Coopérationup by The IUCN pour Centre la Méditerranée for Mediterranean de l’Union Cooperation Internationale (IUCN-Med) pour and la jointlyConservation funded by de the la MAVA Nature foundation (UICN-Med) and the et fiFrench nancé Facility conjointement for Global Environmentpar la fondation (FFEM). MAVA et le Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM). Exploralis is a NGO founded in Tunisia that works in the environmental field.Exploralis It develops est une organisationprojects of nonscientific gouvernementale research fondéeand works en Tunisie to integrate et s’intéressant the producedaux questions information environnementales, in an educational elle développe approach des projets of desocial recherche empowerment. scientifi que et travaille pour intégrer l’information produite dans une démarche pédagogique de Thispartage work etis depart responsabilisationof the Med’Ex project, citoyenne. which aims at giving a first report on the state of the ecological and natural wealth of a wetland located around the Medjerda river. This rich and naturally protected ecosystem is located in the governorate of Béja between the villages of Mestouta and Bechouk. Ce document a été réalisé dans le cadre du projet Med’Ex qui vise à faire un premier This study was carried out between the months of November 2015 and May 2017 in état des lieux des richesses écologiques et naturelles d’une zone humide portant sur son collaboration with the Faculty of Science of Tunis and the General Directorate of Water axe principal le fl euve Medjerda. Cet écosystème riche et naturellement protégé se situe attached to the Ministry of Agriculture. About twenty national experts in various dans le gouvernorat de Béja entre les villages de Mestouta et Bechouk. scientific sectors contributed to the development of this document. We are happy to have collaborated with them during these two years of study and we are glad to have created a productive synergy between the civil society and the Tunisian university system. Cette étude eff ectuée entre le mois de Novembre 2015 et Mai 2017 a été réalisée en colla- Weboration hope that avec this la Facultépublication des Scienceswill draw de the Tunis attention et la Direction on the strategic Générale aspect des ofEaux the auprèsgood environmentaldu ministère de health l’agriculture. of the Medjerda Une vingtaine river since d’experts it supplies nationaux with drinking dans diff and érents irrigation secteurs waterscientifi more ques than ont two contribué million Tunisians. à l’élaboration We thank de ce all document. those that haveNous collaborated,sommes heureux facilitated d’avoir andcollaboré contributed avec to eux the pendant various activities ces deux of années the project, d’études in particular et nous the avons regional été ravisand national de créer officialune synergie institutions, productive the universitiesentre la société and thecivile local et lepopulation. tissu universitaire We thank tunisien.the PPI-OSCAN team for their accompaniment and their support which helped us face certain challenges. Nous espérons que cet ouvrage portera l’attention sur l’aspect stratégique de la bonne santé environnementale du fl euve Medjerda puisque ses eaux alimentent en eau potable et agricole plus de deux millions de tunisiens. Nous remercions tous ceux qui ont colla- boré, facilité et contribué aux diff érentes activités du projet, notammentTo the beauty les institutions of nature. étatiques régionales et nationales, les universités et la populationThe locale. Exploralis Nous team. remer- cions l’équipe PPI-OSCAN pour leur accompagnement et leur encadrement qui nous ont facilité certains défi s. Exploralis experts team. (photo M. Boujemâa) À la beauté de la nature. L’équipe Exploralis Page 6 - MED’EX-RS1-2017 - Exploralis Page7 i ii Summary Natural characteristics of the project area This project consists in studying the flora, the avifauna, the herpetofauna, the mammals and the entomofauna of the Medjerda river, at the mouth of the artificial lake of the Sidi Salem dam. The project area is environmentally important considering the presence of certain marshlands characterized 2.1 Presentation of the project area by a complex ecological dynamism. This inventory of the biodiversity was carried out between November 2015 and February 2017 during the prenuptial and the postnuptial passages, the reproduction period, the wintering of the birds and the activity The project area is located mainly on the course of the Medjerda river and its surroundings. Mainly, at the of the reptiles, the mammals and the insects. mouth of the artificial lake of the “Sidi Salem dam”. We counted: The construction of the dam in 1982 created a wetland that, over the years, extended over more than 400 hectares. This contributes greatly to the ecological dynamics of the Medjerda river and constitutes a rich reservoir of the biodiversity. The zone of study belongs to the public domain; it is under the supervision and the control of the Directorate of dams and water attached to the Ministry of Agriculture. the area is shown on the map below (fig. 1) 187 species of birds: 59 28 species of mammals 14 species of reptiles An undefined number 13 types of habitats: sedentary, 33 nesting, including a dozen bats. and 6 amphibians. (+400) of species of 5 types of reed beds, 51 migratory pre and insects (identified 2 types of forests, 2 postnuptial and 47 and unidentified) types of maquis, 2 wintering species. estimated at 16 types of swamps and Orders, 53 Families 2 types of cliffs. and 82 Genera. This work covers neither all of the scientific aspects neither all of the species nor all of the habitats present in the studied area, but it gives a preliminary state based on observations on the ground, operations of capture and of recapture, samplings and on the main features of the project area. This work was achieved over a period of approximately 18 months. Page 8 - MED’EX-RS1-2017 - Exploralis Page9 This sector has been divided into 7 areas (Fig. 2), distributed east to west as follows: - St. 1 area is located at the east of the studied sector between the Detroit of El Hajama in the north-east and 2.2 Geographical location Jbel Guitoune in the south-east. It covers a total of 135 ha. The water depth varies from 0.5m to 5m. St. 2 area is also located at the east between El Wtay and Jbel Khorchfia. It covers 165ha. The water depth varies between 0.5m et 2m at the centre of the river. It hosts the biggest island named “Yagouma” that extends delimited in the north by the village of Bechouk, in the south by the village of Mastouta, in the east by the on 22.5 ha. - St.3 and St.4 areas delimited by El Wtay and Baten Lamed in the north and Jbel Khorchfia in the south. They cover respectively 35ha and 56ha. The water depth varies from 0.5m to 2m at the centre of the river. - St. 5 area covers the hills of Baten Lamed and Demnet Ennahla. It extends on 84ha and the ater depth varies from 0.5m to 2m. Tunisia, on the southern shore of the Mediterranean - St. 6 and St. 7 areas are located at the west of the studied sector. They are delimited by Henchir Bechouk Sea and at the extreme north of Africa. (north-east), Dahmania (east) and Jbel Khorchfia (south). They extend on 287ha and the water depth varies from 0.5m to 2m at the centre of the swamp. These two areas host two small islands: The first is covered by a pine and eucalyptus forest and is only 2ha, the second is covered by eucalyptus and is 0.5 ha. Beja governorate, north-west of Tunisia. the Sidi Salem dam, 20 kms from Béja. Figure 1: Location map of the studied area. High marsh Observations area Figure 2: Delimitation of the 7 studied areas (stations 1 to 7) of the project sector (map W. Tlili) Page11 2. 3 Topography 2. 4 Hydrology e 2/3 of the studied surface consists in a wetland, bearing on its central axis the Medjerda river and containing several marshy places; the depth varies from 0.5 to 2 meters. e 1/3 consists of a series of hills and plains with a maximum altitude of 300m and a dozen clis with an Water sources: altitude varying between 50 and 100m.