Species → Greater flamingo
Greater flamingo
Phoenicopterus roseus
What if it disappeared?
Impact ModerateWithout greater flamingos in numbers, a saline lagoon would lose the nitrogen and phosphorus that their droppings and the sediment disturbance from their feet release into the water — an input that, measured at Fuente de Piedra, nearly doubles the growth rate of the bacteria that support the rest of the food chain.
DocumentedDetail
Batanero, G.L., León-Palmero, E., Li, L., Green, A.J., Rendón-Martos, M., Suttle, C.A. & Reche, I. (2017). Flamingos and drought as drivers of nutrients and microbial dynamics in a saline lake. Scientific Reports, 7, 12173.
During a wet year, more than 50,000 flamingos used the Fuente de Piedra lagoon (Málaga); during the following drought, the population crashed to 12,000 birds with no breeding. The authors show nitrogen and phosphorus inputs from droppings were markedly higher in the wet year, and that a laboratory guano addition nearly doubled the growth rate and carrying capacity of heterotrophic bacteria, via phosphorus assimilation.
Without the sediment reworking from the circular pits the flamingo digs while filter-feeding, the seabed in some intertidal zones would keep a different structure — an ecosystem-engineer effect documented over short timescales rather than as a lasting landscape transformation.
DocumentedDetail
Salvador, P., Bezzi, A., Martinucci, D., Sponza, S. & Fontolan, G. (2022). Circular Bedforms Due to Pit Foraging of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus in a Back-Barrier Intertidal Habitat. Diversity, 14(10), 788.
In an intertidal habitat of the Marano-Grado lagoon (northern Adriatic), the authors describe circular sediment patterns dug by the greater flamingo's bill-filtering and confirm its role as an ecosystem engineer — but note the seabed modification remains limited in time and space, without evidence of a lasting landscape-scale effect.
The nitrogen and phosphorus enrichment measured at Fuente de Piedra could also support more zooplankton, invertebrates and fish that other waterbirds of the same saline lagoons feed on — but the study stops at the bacterial level and does not measure this further link in the chain.
ExtrapolatedDetail
Extrapolation à partir de Batanero et al. (2017) : l'effet mesuré sur la production bactérienne étendu aux niveaux trophiques supérieurs, pas un résultat publié pour ces niveaux.
The saline lagoons where flamingos nest also host avocets, stilts and plovers, which depend on the same aquatic invertebrates. If bird-driven nutrient enrichment genuinely benefits these levels, no monitoring yet directly links flamingo presence to zooplankton or fish abundance at these sites.
What's missing to confirm it: Monitoring comparing zooplankton, benthic invertebrates or fish between lagoons with high versus low flamingo attendance would confirm whether the nutrient effect measured at the bacterial level propagates up the food chain.
Documentation
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IUCN Red List / BirdLife DataZone — Phoenicopterus roseus (Greater Flamingo), statut et effectifs
Accessed August 10, 2026
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Batanero et al. (2017) — Flamingos and drought as drivers of nutrients and microbial dynamics in a saline lake, Scientific Reports
Accessed August 10, 2026
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Salvador et al. (2022) — Circular Bedforms Due to Pit Foraging of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus in a Back-Barrier Intertidal Habitat, Diversity
Accessed August 10, 2026
Last verified: August 10, 2026