This book is the outcome of a major international conference on waterbirds held in Edinburgh in April 2004.

This book will prove a fascinating read for researchers, academics, organisations and specialists in a wide range of fields including: bird conservation and wildlife protection, environmental law and policy, global governance, regionalism and transborder c.

First Comprehensive Handbook On Indian Wetland Birds, Which Provides Information On 310 Wetland Bird Species From India. Each Species Description Comprises Brief Diagnostics, At Least A Photograph, A Painting And Its Geographical Distribution Depicted In A Colour Map. The Population, Residential And Conservation Status Of Indian Wetland Birds Has Been Analysed. Globally Threatened Species From India Have Been Listed Along With Descriptions Of Their Critical Habitats. Socio-Economics Of Wetlands Have Been Discussed Along With Their Direct And Indirect Values. A Chapter Has Been Devoted To Wetland Sanctuaries, National Parks, Legislation, And Montreux Sites, And Sacred Wetlands In India. National Policies, Legislation, And International Conventions/Agreements, Including Indo-Russian Bilateral Agreement On Conservation Of Wetlands And Wetland Birds Have Been Discussed Under A Chapter On Framework For Conservation. Strategies For Conservation Of Threatened Indian Wetland Birds And Their Critical Habitats Have Been Discussed. List And Mandate Of Various Go`S Nd Ngo`S Involved In Wetland Bird Conservation Have Been Provided.

Investigating the factors shaping the diversified patterns of habitat use and long-distance movements of migratory species is not only fundamental to understanding the ecology and evolution of migration, but also has direct conservation implications to more effectively preserving globally declining migrant populations. In my dissertation, I used coastal shorebirds as the focal species, and investigated how an ecological understanding in their habitat preferences, habitat quality, as well as migratory movement and migration strategies may inform conservation practices for these rapidly declining species at different scales.In Chapter 1, I quantified the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of local shorebird populations, and found that the upper tidal flats provided more than 70% of the cumulative foraging time for most shorebird populations, disproportionately greater than the size of this stretch of tidal flat. The results could explain why the population decline rates of many shorebird species have far exceeded the overall rate of tidal habitat loss, highlighting the importance of protecting upper tidal flats for the conservation of migratory shorebirds.In Chapter 2, I devised an entirely field-based approach to quantitatively evaluate the quality of a major stopover site for the declining Red Knot. I estimated that the Nanpu tidal flat was operating below, but remarkably close to, its carrying capacity. This approach needs to be applied more broadly to more accurately evaluate how the Red Knot population may respond to changes in habitat quality.In Chapters 3 and 4, I tracked the annual migration of two small shorebird species, Red-necked Stint and Red-necked Phalaropes, using light-level geolocators. Tracking the annual movement of migratory species not only sheds light on the species-specific migration patterns, but also contributes to understanding the factors shaping migration strategies and the vulnerability of these strategies to different anthropogenic threats.Taken together, this dissertation investigated some of the key ecological questions regarding the migration and stopover ecology of migratory, with direct conservation implications in identifying the factors that affect the vulnerability of migratory species to various anthropogenic threats at different scales.