Plenaries

---

Gediz Delta is an extensive wetland ecosystem situated in the Izmir Bay. The total area of the delta is about 40.000 Ha consisting of approximately 40% wetland and 60% farmlands and hills. The delta, besides having Turkey’s largest active marine saline, possesses a myriad of habitats including extensive mud flats, sand beaches with Salicornia vegetation and seashells, coastal marshes, lagoons, extensive salt marshes, agricultural lands, pastures. The delta is a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA), Ramsar site, satisfies IBA criteria for 32 bird species and holds important populations of some globally threatened species. The delta hosts 117 different breeding bird species and over 300 bird species. The delta is famous for a lot of species. These included are Flamingos-Phoenicopterus roseus (about 18,000 breeding pairs), Dalmatian Pelicans-Pelecanus crispus (164 breeding pairs) , Little Bittern (Ixobrycus minutus), Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna), Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni), Spur-winged Lapwing (Vanellus spinosus), Stone Curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus), Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis), Little Tern (Sterna albifrons), Gull-billed Tern (Sterna nilotica), Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia), Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), Whiskered tern (Chlidonias hybridus), Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus), Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola), Pallid Swift (Apus pallidus), Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin (Cercotichas galactotes), Black-eared wheatear (Oenanthe hispanica), Zitting cisticola (Cisticola juncidis), Cinereous Bunting (Emberiza cineracea), and many more. During the congress, there will be an excursion to the delta.