The role of constructed wetlands in the conservation of biodiversity: a case study on birds diversity in Al-Hadba treatment plant,Tripoli, Libya 1 Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, The University of Tripoli, Al-Fornaj, P.O.Box: 13227 Tripoli, Libya 2 Environment General Authority, EGA-Libya * Corresponding author, e-mail: khaledetayeb@yahoo.com ABSTRACT Urbanization as a result of human population increase has led to the depletion of natural re- sources and the destruction of natural wetlands. In contrast, the establishment of treatment and purification of plants has led to the creation of new wetlands (constructed wetlands). Al- though these new ecosystems established for the treatment of municipal wastewater, and sub- ject to operational and maintenance disturbances, many studies have demonstrated that numbers of bird species using such sites are reasonably higher than expected. The present study has investigated the role of Al-Hadba treatment plant in the conservation of biodiversity and the diversity of birds in particular. This paper emphasizes that, this area is one of the stopover sites for migrating birds, especially aquatic birds, ducks and long-legged waders. A total of 74 species were recorded during the period of study. Moreover, this study observed the breeding of four species; Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris, Cattle egret Bubulcus ibis, Moorhen Gallinula chloropus, Black-winged stilt Himantopus himantopus. Some factors such as drought, predation and disturbance were affecting the abundance of individuals at the study area. INTRODUCTION Wetlands are defined as an area that is perma- nently or seasonally wet, or during the year running or stagnant, fresh or saltwater, such as swamps, marshes, ponds, shallow water plains, dams, springs, rivers, lakes, valleys, industrial ponds, etc. (Moore, 2008). Wetlands are transitional habitats and the most productive ecosystems in the world compared to land-based rainforests and coral reefs in aquatic environments, occupying 6% of the world’s land area, i.e. 5.3 to 8.6 million square kilo- meters (Ashkanani, 2013). The importance of wet- lands is due to the fact that they are unique ecosystems in terms of their biological diversity and their renewable natural resources (many species of flora and fauna), as well as valuable and important habitat for the survival and nesting of many species of birds, especially endangered species (Sheldon et al., 2005; Duma, 2011). The importance of wetlands has long been disregarded because of the lack of KEY WORDS Constructed wetlands; aquatic birds; breeding and stopover. Aya Algadry 1 , Esra’a Dorman 1 , Essam Bourass 2 & Khaled Etayeb 1 Biodiversity Journal, 2022,13 (3): 627–639 https://doi.org/10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2022.13.3.627.639 MONOGRAPH Received 20.06.2022; accepted 01.08.22.2020; published online 18.09.2022 - Proceedings of the 6th International Congress “Taxonomy, Speciation and Euro-Mediterranean Biodiversity”, October 11th-13th, 2019 - Sofia (Bulgaria)