In ecological investigations, the characterisation of plant and animal assemblages is carried out by implementing different numerical methods, based on the species abundances and richness. This paper provides a detailed description of a method for characterising assemblages, which uses both abundances and ‘preference degree’ of species. This latter ecological parameter is measured for each species for a sample of habitats by using its abundance profile in this sample; this ecological preference is calculated using an index derived from the Shannon formula, largely used to estimate the entropy. The analysis of an assemblage consists then of classifying the assemblage species in a diagram, depending on their abundance and their ‘preference degree’. The preference degree is described through its theoretical foundations and a series of arguments in its favour as well as its variability and application domains. The relevance of this index is illustrated through real datasets collected on two kinds of assemblages (water insects and waterbirds) that differ by their demographic strategies and their ecology. This method revealed a practical robustness that is justified here, but also some weaknesses, on which will be focused our research prospects for generalising its use.

Avian diversity is very poor in urban zones due to the loss of natural ecosystems, breeding sites, nesting substrates, and foraging resources. However, the variation of these elements following the urban gradient is not well understood. The purpose of this study was to look into the nesting substrates, breeding communities, habitat use, and bird abundance in the urban and peri-urban environments in central Morocco’s Fez City. Field visits were conducted monthly from 2017 to 2019 in urban and peri-urban habitats with a 1–3 km transect method. Birds were identified visually and acoustically with points of count separated by 100 to 300 m. We noted bird species, populations, type of habitat, nesting site, and nesting substrate. A total of 140 avian species were identified in peri-urban (130 species) and urban (68 species) zones. Equally, 717 nests of 29 bird species were documented in urbanized (109 nests of 13 species) and peri-urban (608 nests of 20 species) habitats. In peri-urban ecosystems, nests of breeders were recorded in farmlands, wetlands, and forests. In the urban zone, nests were recorded in urban farms, green gardens, walls, and urban forests. Equally, nesting substrates were variable among surveyed zones. On the other hand, nests of four breeding birds were recorded commonly in urban and peri-urban ecosystems. This study elucidated the diversity of avifauna in the human-made landscapes of Morocco, which were neglected during the last decades and could serve as references for future and comparative studies of biodiversity in urban zones. Equally, this study could serve as a tool for management programs of landscapes and their diversity in urban areas. However, more investigations are needed to analyze how other factors such as noise, buildings, and traffic affect the diversity of avifauna in urbanized landscapes.

In Morocco, investigations of bats are limited and fragmentary. The majority of studies were done in northern provinces close to the Mediterranean Sea and focused on the geographical distribution of bats. With the aim of overcoming these gaps, we used diurnal caves visits, hand nets and mist nets, and acoustic surveys to make an inventory of the Atlantic littoral of Safi-Essaouira provinces, which is considered one of the most neglected regions in the country. In total, five caves and nine foraging habitats were surveyed from 2020 to 2022. Our surveys highlighted the distribution of eleven bat species belonging to five families, of which Rhinolophus blasii and Tadarida teniotis species were newly recorded in the study area. Three caves, namely, Sbaa Fam, Haouya, and Sidi Benkrara were newly discovered and hosted medium-sized colonies of five species. They were important for bats during the daytime, hibernation, and breeding. In foraging habitats, 2650 passes of 10 species were recorded. Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Pipistrellus kuhlii were the most active, followed by Miniopterus schreibersii and Eptesicus isabellinus, while Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Hipposideros tephrus, Rhinolophus mehelyi, T. teniotis, Myotis punicus, and R. blasii were less active. Olive groves were the most diverse habitat with 8 species, followed by Safi pinewood and degraded Argane forest with 4 species each and Sidi Abderrahmane lake with 3 species. The other habitats hosted only two species each. This paper is the first to highlight data on bats in the coastal areas of Morocco and North Africa. Our results contribute to improve knowledge of the annual cycle of these bats and fill the gaps related to their distribution in the coastal area of the Safi-Essaouira provinces.

This study concerns a Saharan wetland of southern Morocco, the Imlili Sebkha, located south of the Dakhla city. Considered among the rare permanent saharan sebkhas, it is recharged by episodic surface water supplies from an endorheic hydrographic network and by the unconfined aquifer, which emerges permanently through tens of shallow natural cavities. Using satellite data (DEM and rainfall), supplemented by field observations, an analysis of surface water supplies is carried out in this article. Due to the low slopes and the almost generalized silting of the catchment area, most of the rainwater is evaporated or recovered by the phreatic aquifer. Only a small proportion would arrive to the wetland, which would come from the surroundings of the sebkha. Nevertheless, these low inputs can flood a large part of the wetland, including the groundwater cavities, especially during the biggest autumn storms. Keywords: GIS, hydrology, satellite data, Saharan Sebkha, Morocco.

This study aimed to evaluate the spatial microdistribution and temporal microdistribution of the North African subspecies of the globally threatened Turtle Doves in Morocco. From the end of February to early September, we monitored the migration dates, counting arrival and departure dates, and breeding chronology, to clarify if the breeding season is divided into sub-breeding phases or not. Equally, the spatial distribution of nests following potential breeding phases was surveyed weekly in Beni Mellal province following a map of a selected orange orchard. Doves arrived in Beni Mellal in the third week of March and left in mid-October, according to the results. The first nests occurred in the second week of April, followed by the first eggs in the third week of April and the first chicks in the first week of May. PCA analysis showed that the nesting and laying stages were achieved principally during the last two weeks of April and the first three weeks of May, the hatching stage between the fourth week of May and the second week of July, and fledging between the fourth week of July and the first week of September. Further, the breeding season was divided into two phases: the first breeding phase, from the first week of April to the first week of June, and the second phase, between the second week of June and the second week of August. The DCA analysis and orchard-created map indicated that the first wave of breeders colonized the marginal trees located on the orchard sides, surrounded by foraging cereals and legumes, and the second breeding-phase nests were constructed in flocks next to the nests of the first breeding phase. According to this strategy, the first breeders prospect the orchard and select nesting trees near foraging resources, while the second breeders’ wave colonizes trees near successfully used prospector sites. These findings are of great importance for comparative investigations and habitat-scale conservation management.