Relations entre avifaune et état des cours d'eau : Cas de la Meurthe

An enquiry made during the springs of 1992, 1993 and 1994 allowed for an evaluation of the state of the main water courses in the Rhin-Meuse catchment area by comparing the distribution of fourteen riverine species. In order to describe more precisely the relationship between their avifauna and the state of the water courses, 162 I.P.A.s (1/km) were made during the spring of 1995 taking into account all species and covering all of the Meurthe. This work has shown that although the first method is very useful for studying a catchment areas the second is more apt on a smaller scale, for a single water course. It also allows to show the influence of many local factors (variability of depth, bank structure, variation in breadth of the riverbed, bankside vegetation....) on species distribution and composition of the relationship between bird communities and habitat strucThe different results underline the importance of the relationship between bird communities and habitat structure as well as how the avifauna can be a good biological indicator of habitat quality.