| Title | Assessing the relative importance of managed crops and semi-natural grasslands as foraging habitats for breeding lesser kestrels Falco naumanni in southeastern Italy |
| Abstract | Farmland habitats host important populations of several threatened bird species. So far, how to reconcile farmland management with the maintenance of viable populations of these taxa is a major challenge for conservation biology. Southeastern Italy hosts ca 7000 pairs of breeding lesser kestrels Falco naumanni, representing one of the European strongholds of this small colonial raptor of conservation concern. We firstly assessed the relative importance of managed crops versus semi-natural grasslands in determining the local abundance of lesser kestrels at the landscape scale, and we successively studied the foraging habitat preferences at a smaller spatial scale. Surveys of foraging birds were associated with land-use collection at 191 homogeneous habitat sampling parcels from 14 plots of 16 km2 each, uniformly distributed over a 2400 km2 area. Each plot was visited six times during the 2017 breeding season (May-July). Land-use markedly changed along the season, unripe cereals being dominant in May, while harvested cereal crops prevailed in July. Land-use did not affect lesser kestrel distribution early in the season while foraging birds were more abundant in plots with a greater proportion of harvested cereal crops and a lower one of semi-natural grassland in the late breeding season. In accordance, the analysis of foraging habitat preferences within plots showed that in May unripe cereal crops and semi-natural grasslands were used proportionally to their availability. In June and July, harvested cereal crops were used more than expected from their availability, while semi-natural grasslands were significantly avoided. Our landscape-scale analysis thus indicates that semi-natural grasslands are much less used in comparison to harvested crops during the mid and late parts of the breeding season, suggesting that lesser kestrel may be able to take advantage of crop management practices more than other farmland birds of conservation priority. |
| Source | Wildlife biology (Papirform) 2021(1) |
| Keywords | agricultural intensification conservationfarmland managementland useraptors |
| Journal | Wildlife biology (Papirform) |
| Editor | Wildlife Biology,, Rønde, Danimarca |
| Year | 2021 |
| Type | Articolo in rivista |
| DOI | 10.2981/wlb.00800 |
| Authors | M. Morganti (1), J. G. Cecere (2), S. Quilici (3), C. Tarantino (4), P. Blonda (4), M. Griggio (5), R. Ambrosini (3), D. Rubolini (3) |
| Text | 443052 2021 10.2981/wlb.00800 agricultural intensification conservation farmland management land use raptors Assessing the relative importance of managed crops and semi natural grasslands as foraging habitats for breeding lesser kestrels Falco naumanni in southeastern Italy M. Morganti 1 , J. G. Cecere 2 , S. Quilici 3 , C. Tarantino 4 , P. Blonda 4 , M. Griggio 5 , R. Ambrosini 3 , D. Rubolini 3 1 National Research Council Water Research Inst. CNR IRSA , Brugherio, MB , Italy 2 Area Avifauna Migratrice, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale ISPRA , Ozzano Emilia, BO , Italy 3 Dipto di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Univ. degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy 4 Inst. of Atmospheric Pollution Research IIA , National Research Council CNR , c/o Interateneo Physics Dept, Bari, Italy 5 Dipto di Biologia, Univ. di Padova, Padova, Italy Farmland habitats host important populations of several threatened bird species. So far, how to reconcile farmland management with the maintenance of viable populations of these taxa is a major challenge for conservation biology. Southeastern Italy hosts ca 7000 pairs of breeding lesser kestrels Falco naumanni, representing one of the European strongholds of this small colonial raptor of conservation concern. We firstly assessed the relative importance of managed crops versus semi natural grasslands in determining the local abundance of lesser kestrels at the landscape scale, and we successively studied the foraging habitat preferences at a smaller spatial scale. Surveys of foraging birds were associated with land use collection at 191 homogeneous habitat sampling parcels from 14 plots of 16 km2 each, uniformly distributed over a 2400 km2 area. Each plot was visited six times during the 2017 breeding season May July . Land use markedly changed along the season, unripe cereals being dominant in May, while harvested cereal crops prevailed in July. Land use did not affect lesser kestrel distribution early in the season while foraging birds were more abundant in plots with a greater proportion of harvested cereal crops and a lower one of semi natural grassland in the late breeding season. In accordance, the analysis of foraging habitat preferences within plots showed that in May unripe cereal crops and semi natural grasslands were used proportionally to their availability. In June and July, harvested cereal crops were used more than expected from their availability, while semi natural grasslands were significantly avoided. Our landscape scale analysis thus indicates that semi natural grasslands are much less used in comparison to harvested crops during the mid and late parts of the breeding season, suggesting that lesser kestrel may be able to take advantage of crop management practices more than other farmland birds of conservation priority. 2021 1 Published version Articolo in rivista Wildlife Biology, 0909 6396 Wildlife biology Papirform Wildlife biology Papirform Wildlife biology / Papirform palmanicoletta.blonda BLONDA PALMA NICOLETTA cristina.tarantino TARANTINO CRISTINA michelangelo.morganti MORGANTI MICHELANGELO e shape EuroGEO Showcases Applications Powered by Europe |
