HAVE T VAN DER & BERK V VAN DEN (1994) The Mediterranean migration route: network of wetlands for waterbirds. LIMOSA 67 (4): 159-162.

The Foundation Working Group International Waterbird and Wetland Research (WIWO) stimulates and supports initiatives of volunteers to study the distribution and migration ecology of waterbirds for the benefit of nature conservation in the Afro-Palearctic migration system. Traditionally, projects focused on waterbirds migrating within the East-Atlantic Flyway, but in recent years attention has been extended to the Mediterranean region. These studies aimed to reveal more of the loop-migration of several wader species and to make a comparison between the major wetland types of both flyways. One of the characteristic wetland types of the Mediterranean Flyway is windflat, that is, mudflat exposed by wind force. The largest system of windflats is found in the Sivash, a lagoon system in the Crimea near the Sea of Azov, Ukraine. In some brackish lagoons invertebrate densities equal those of tidal wetlands and these wetlands were found to be of international importance for arctic waders in general, and in particular for at least one third of the European population of Broad-billed Sandpipers Limicola falcinellus. A comparison among Mediterranean wetlands showed that larger wetlands have more waterbirds and more species of waterbirds (figures 1, 2), implying that wetland loss will result in loss of biodiversity. It can be concluded that the network of European wetlands within the Mediterranean Flyway is equally important for waders as is the chain of wetlands along the East Atlantic Flyway ##### Ruff Philomachus pugnax Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea Little Stint Calidris minuta Dunlin Calidris alpina = Calidris alpina schinzii Broad-billed Sandpiper Limicola falcinellus

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