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Influence of game crops on the distribution and productivity of red-legged partridges Alectoris rufa in Mediterranean woodlands

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Abstract

Red-legged partridges Alectoris rufa are one of the most important game species in extensively managed Mediterranean agro-forest systems. Population declines have led to management to increase their populations. This includes the creation of game crops, but their efficacy for red-legged partridges has not been tested. We developed in October 1996 an experimental introduction of 32 100 × 8 m plots in a 6.46-km2 mixed agro-forest system area in Portugal. These plots were planted with either lupin Lupinus sp., vetch Vicea sp. or triticale Triticum aestivum × Secale cereale. The main goal of this study was the evaluation of the potential effect of game crops on partridge distribution and productivity, after controlling for the effect of habitat or other management actions. Partridge abundance and distribution were assessed during spring and summer 1997 by intensive territory mapping. We compared characteristics of territory centres with those of random points in relation to land uses, game crops, and location of water points or supplementary grain sites. The most important variable explaining partridge’s location in spring was the density of supplementary water points. In summer, partridge territories were positively associated with the density of water points and lupin game crops, as well as olive trees. Productivity (number of young per territory in relation to adults observed) increased with the density of lupin game crops, but decreased with density of water points and vetch game crops and proportion of woodland within the territories. Overall, this study suggests that management for partridges in areas of agricultural abandonment, such as those in Mediterranean woodlands, would benefit from the introduction of leguminous game crops and water provision, though more studies are required for a more adequate optimization of these measures of habitat improvement, in particular about the specific cover of the crops and their spatial distribution so they provide adequate resources in summer for nestlings.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to H. Simões, S. Carvalho and A. Rito for the preparation and manipulation of the GIS, to M. Capelo, J. Carvalho, D. Castro Pereira, T. Costa, G. Vasconcelos Pessoa and P. Vaz Pinto for help in the field work, to R. Neiva Correia for allowing us to conduct this study on his land, to Joana Santana for help with Fig. 1, and to J.F. Bugalho, C. Stoate and two anonymous referees for reviewing earlier and current versions of the manuscript. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by ESAB and INIA through the project PAMAF-4030. This project was funded by Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT) through the project PRAXIS/PCNA/C/BIA/105/96 and by the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science and the European Social Fund, through FCT, under POPH - QREN - Typology 4.1, through the grant SFRH/BPD/93079/2013 (LR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIBIO/InBIO-Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas 7, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal

    Luís Reino

  2. Centro de Ecologia Aplicada Prof. Baeta Neves, Instituto Superior de Agronomia/InBIO, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017, Lisbon, Portugal

    Luís Reino

  3. ERENA, S.A., Rua do Conde de Redondo N° 8 - 5° Dt°, 1150-105, Lisbon, Portugal

    Rui Borralho

  4. Present address: Rua Robalo Gouveia, n°-1ª, 1900-392, Lisbon, Portugal

    Rui Borralho

  5. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC, CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo 12, 13005, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Beatriz Arroyo

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  1. Luís Reino
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  2. Rui Borralho
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  3. Beatriz Arroyo
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Correspondence to Beatriz Arroyo.

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Reino, L., Borralho, R. & Arroyo, B. Influence of game crops on the distribution and productivity of red-legged partridges Alectoris rufa in Mediterranean woodlands. Eur J Wildl Res 62, 609–617 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-016-1034-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-016-1034-9

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