Saline wetlands

Flooded or damp areas with salty or brackish water with halophytic flowering plants that grow in coastal or inland salt marshes like Salicornia, tamarisk and rushes.

Saline wetlands are very poor in terms of butterfly diversity. Only the commonest and widespread species are found, above all migratory butterflies such as Vanessa cardui and Danaus chryssipus that arrive here after their migratory flights across the Mediterranean Sea or along the coast. Plebejus argus is also characteristic of this habitat in the Aiguamolls de l'Empordà Natural Park, where it can reach great population densities.

Species that have been found in the habitat within the CBMS network are shown in descending order of preference. The Highlights tab indicates those species with ≥ 5% of their total abundance (standardized to 100 m) concentrated in that habitat. The Species List tab displays a table with the percent density of each species in the habitat (compared to the rest of the CBMS habitat types). Transects shows in descending order the percentage cover of this habitat type for each itinerary in the CBMS network, with the number of botanical characterizations available in the Years column. The Communities tab lists the CORINE codes and names of the plant communities that have been included in this habitat type. This table also gives the area (in m²) occupied by each plant community in the network as a whole.

• Highlights (15)
• Species (36)
• Transects (19)
• CORINE communities (16)

Illustrations by Richard Lewington from Tolman & Lewington (1997) Butterflies of Britain and Europe, translated and published in Spanish by Lynx Edicions.

References

• Bueno, D., Ballesteros, E., Masalles, R.M., Martí, E., 2013. Atles dels Ecosistemes dels Països Catalans. Història Natural dels Països Catalans v.13. Enciclopèdia Catalana