Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Population restoration of the nocturnal bird Athene noctua in Western Europe: an example of evidence based species conservation

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Agricultural intensification is one of the key factors leading to the recent global biodiversity crisis. Especially farmland species are negatively affected by both, agricultural intensification and abandonment. The nocturnal Little Owl Athene noctua inhabits low-intensity agricultural landscapes and showed severe population declines over Central Europe during the past decades. In this study we analysed the effects of land-use changes on the Little Owl between 2001 and 2010 across Western Luxembourg. We assessed the occurrence of A. noctua and tested for the species´ habitat use and the effects of nesting boxes. In total we analysed 63 occupied and unoccupied study sites over a 20 km × 40 km study region located in Western Luxembourg. Our data indicate a transformation of pastures with single trees into arable land during the past 10 years. As a response to a perceived decline of the species in the region a total of 450 nesting boxes were installed in high stem orchards which are considered potentially suitable habitats, in areas with and without past A. noctua occurrence. We tested how nesting boxes and various habitat structures in the surrounding (e.g. percentage of high stem orchards, habitat heterogeneity) affected the occurrence of A. noctua. Despite agricultural intensification, the presence of A. noctua increased, most likely as a result of the installation of nesting boxes. We found that land-use parameters such as arable land, forests, pastures and pastures with trees had a negligible impact on the occurrence of A. noctua. Our findings suggest that the conservation of the little owl can be supported with comparatively simple and convenient measures, such as the installation of nesting boxes, even in an intensively used environment, provided that sufficient prey is available.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Augenstein B, Ulrich W, Habel JC (2012) Directional temporal shifts in community structure of butterflies and ground beetles in fragmented oligotrophic grasslands of Central Europe. J Basic Appl Ecol 8:715–724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Batáry P, Matthiesen T, Tscharntke T (2010) Landscape-moderated importance of hedges in conserving farmland bird diversity of organic vs. conventional croplands and grasslands. Biol Conserv 143:2020–2027

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benton TG, Vickery JA, Wilson JD (2003) Farmland biodiversity: is habitat heterogeneity the key? Trends Ecol Evol 18:182–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binzenhöfer B, Schröder B, Strauss B, Biedermann R, Settele J (2005) Habitat models and habitat connectivity analysis for butterflies and burnet moths—the example of Zygaena carniolica and Coenonympha arcania. Biol Conserv 126:247–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BirdLifeInternational (2004) Birds in the European Union: a status assessment. BirdLife International, Wageningen

    Google Scholar 

  • Blache S (2004) La Chevêche (Athene noctua) en zone d’agriculture intensive (plaine de Valnece; Drôme): habitat, alimentation, reproduction. Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. Sciences de la Vie et de la Terre. Laboratoire Biogéographie et Ecologies des Vertebrés. Montpeiller

  • Blaxter K, Robertson N (1995) From death to plenty: The second agricultural revolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 278

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Chylarecki P, Jawińska D (2007) Common breeding bird monitoring in Poland: Annual report 2005–2006. Polish Society for the Protection of Birds, Warszawa. (in Polish with English summary)

  • CORINE (2006) Pan-European project CORINE land cover (CLC). Available at http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps. Accessed August 2014

  • Dalbeck L, Bergerhausen W, Hachtel M (1999) Habitatpräferenzen des Steinkauzes (Athene noctua) im ortsnahen Grünland. Eulen-Rundblick 48(49):3–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Donald PF, Green RE, Heath MF (2001) Agricultural intensification and the collapse of Europe´s farmland bird populations. Proc R Soc Lond B 268:25–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donald PF, Sanderson FJ, Burfield IJ, van Bommel FPJ (2006) Further evidence of continent-wide impacts of agricultural intensification on European farmland birds, 1990–2000. Agric Ecosyst Environ 116:189–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dormann CF, Elith J, Bacher S, Buchmann C, Carl G, Carré G, Marquéz JRG, Gruber B, Lafourcade B, Leitao PJ, Münkemüller T, McClean C, Osborne PE, Reineking B, Schröder B, Skidmore AK, Zurell A, Lautenbach S (2013) Collinearity: a review of methods to deal with it and a simulation study evaluating their performance. Ecography 36:27–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Exo KM, Hennes R (1980) Beitrag zur Populationsökologie des Steinkauzes – eine Analyse deutscher und niederländischer Ringfunde. Vogelwarte 30:162–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Fahrig L (2003) Effects of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity. Ann Rev Ecol Evol Syst 34:487–515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finck P (1990) Seasonal variation of territory size with the Little Owl (Athene noctua). Oecologia 83:68–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer C, Flohre A, Clement LW, Batáry P, Weisser WW, Tscharntke T, Thies C (2011) Mixed effects of landscape structure and farming practice on bird diversity. Agric Ecosyst Environ 141:119–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flowerdew JR (1997) Mammal biodiversity in agricultural habitats. In: Kikwood RC (ed) Biodiversity and conservation in agriculture. British Crop Protection Council, Hampshire, pp 25–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Fonseca CR (1999) Amazonian ant-plant interactions and the nesting space limitation hypothesis. J Trop Ecol 15:807–825

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Framis H, Holroyd GL, Mañosa S (2011) Home range and habitat use of the Little Owl (Athene noctua) in an agricultural landscape in coastal Catalonia, Spain. Anim Biodiv Conserv 34:369–378

    Google Scholar 

  • Freymann E, Schaich H (2012) Landnutzungsentwicklung und Kulturrelikte in der Region Müllerthal (Luxemburg). Bull Soc Nat Lux 113:49–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner B (1996) European agriculture: policies, production and trade. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Geiger F, Bengtsson J, Berendse F, Weisser WW, Emmerson M, Morales MB, Ceryngier P, Liira J, Tscharntke T, Winqvist C, Eggers S, Bommarco R, Pärt T, Bretagnolle V, Plantegenest M, Clement LM, Dennis C, Palmer C, Oñate JJ, Guerrero I, Hawro V, Aavik T, Thies C, Flohre A, Hänke S, Fischer C, Goedhart PW, Inchausti P (2010) Persistent negative effects of pesticides on biodiversity and biological control potential on European farmland. Basic Appl Ecol 11:97–105

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gregory RD, van Strien AJ, Vorisek P, Gmelig Meyling AW, Noble DG, Foppen RPB, Gibbons DW (2005) Developing indicators for European birds. Phil Trans R Soc B Lond 360:269–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hulten M, Wassenich V (1960) Die Vogelfauna Luxembourgs. Inst Gr-D Lux. 27:285–422

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaatz G (2011) Entwicklung des Steinkauzbestandes Athene noctua auf einer 300 km2 großen Bearbeitungsfläche des Landkreis Dithmarschen/Schleswig-Holstein. Eulen-Rundblick 61:91–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Kasprzykowski Z, Golawski A (2006) Habitat use of the Barn Owl Tyto alba and the Little Owl Athene noctua in Central-Eastern Poland. Biol Lett 43:33–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorgé P, Biver G (2010) Die Rote Liste der Brutvögel Luxemburgs—2009. Regulus Wissenschaftliche Berichte 25:67–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Loske K-H (2007) Erfassung des Steinkauzes (Athene noctua) in Krefeld: Ein Beispiel für die Berücksichtigung geschützter Arten in der Bauleitplanung. Natur in NRW 3:2–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Martinez JA, Zuberogoitia I (2004) Habitat preferences for Long-eared Owls Asio otus and Little Owls Athene noctua in semi-arid environments at three spatial scales. Bird Study 51:163–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mebs T, Scherzinger W (2000) Die Eulen Europas: Biologie, Kennzeichen. Bestände. Franchkh-Kosmos Verlags-GnbH & Cl, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagelkerke NJD (1991) A note on general definition of the coefficient of determination. Biometrica 133:225–245

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakazawa M (2014) Fmsb: Functions for medical statistics book with some demographic data. R package version 0.4.5

  • Newton I (2004) The recent declines of farmland bird populations in Britain: an appraisal of causal factors and conservation actions. Ibis 146:579–600

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oksanen J, Blanchet GF, Kindt R, Legendre P, Minchin PR, O’Hara RB, Simpson GL, Solymos P, Stevens MHH, Wagner H (2013) vegan: Community Ecology Package. R package version 2.0-10

  • Pereira HM, Leadley PW, Proenca V, Alkemade R, Schlemann JPW, Fernandez-Manjarrés JF, Araújo MB, Balvanera P, Biggs R, Cheung WWL, Chini L, Cooper HD, Gilman EL, Guénette S, Hurtt GC, Huntington HP, Mace GM, Oberdorff T, Revenga C, Rodrigues P, Scholes RJ, Sumaila UR, Walpole M (2010) Scenarios for global biodiversity in the 21st Century. Science 330:1496–1501

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peter W (1999) Schutzmaßnahmen für den Steinkauz (Athene noctua) und dessen Bestandsentwicklung im Main-Kinzig-Kreis. Eulen-Rundblick 48/49:S.24–25

  • R Core Team (2013) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org/

  • Ricketts T (2001) The matrix matters: effective isolation in fragmented landscapes. Am Nat 158:87–99

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson R, Sutherland WJ (2002) Post-war changes in arable farming and biodiversity in Great Britain. J Appl Ecol 39:157–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sálek M, Schröpfer L (2008) Population decline of the Little Owl Athene noctua scop in the Czech Republic. Polish J Ecol 56:527–534

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanderon FJ, Donald PF, Burfield IJ (2006) Farmland birds in Europe: from policy change to population decline and back again. In: Bota G, Camprodon J, Manosa S, Morales MB (eds) Ecology and conservation of steppe island birds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, pp 209–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Scherzinger W (1981) Vorkommen und Gefährdung der vier kleinen Eulenarten in Mitteleuropa. Ökologie der Vögel 3:283–292

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider S (2011) Die Graslandgesellschaften Luxemburgs. Ferrantia 66, Luxemburg

  • Schönn S, Scherzinger W, Exo KM, Ille R (1991) Der Steinkauz. Urania Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Leipzig

    Google Scholar 

  • Sotherton NW, Self MJ (2000) Changes in plant and arthropod diversity on lowland farmland: an overview: in the ecology and conservation of lowland farmland birds, British Ornithologists´ Union, pp 26–35

  • Statec (2012) Luxemburg in Zahlen. Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques

  • Sutherland WJ (2006) Evidence-based conservation—Discrepancy between practice and evidence led to the development of evidence-based medicine. Do we need a similar revolution for conservation? Conserv Prac 4:39–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland WJ, Pullin AS, Dolman PM, Knight TM (2004) The need for evidence-based conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 19:305–308

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taux K (2009) Das Steinkauzprojekt im Landkreis Oldenburg und Randgebiet. Vortrag bei der 24. Jahrestagung der AG Eulen, Freiburg. Eulen-Rundblick 59:22

  • Thorup K, Sunde P, Jacobsen LB, Rahbek C (2010) Breeding season food limitation drives population decline of the Little Owl Athene noctua in Denmark. Ibis 152:803–814

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomé R, Dias MP, Chumbinho AC, Bloise C (2011) Influence of perch height and vegetation structure on the foraging behaviour of Little Owls Athene noctua: how to achieve the same success in two distinct habitats. Ardea 99:17–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Nieuwenhuyse D, Bekaert M (2002) An (auto)logistic regression model for prediction of Little Owl (Athene noctua) suitability of landscapes in East Flanders. Evidence for socially induced distribution patterns of Little Owl, Raptors in the new millenium. In Yosef R (ed.) Proceedings of the world conference on Birds of Prey and Owl Eilat, Israel 2–8 April 2000. International Birding and Research Center. Eilat 80–90

  • Van Nieuwenhuyse D, Génot JC, Johnson DH (2008) The Little Owl, conservation, ecology and behaviour of Athene nocuta. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Vickery JA, Bradbury RB, Henderson IG, Eaton MA, Grice PV (2004) The role of agri-environment schemes and farm management practices in reversing the decline of farmland birds in England. Biol Conserv 119:19–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogus KH (1962) Die Vogelwelt Europas und ihre Verbreitung. Hamburg, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Voríšek P, Jiguet F, van Strien A, Škorpilová J, Klvanová A, Gregory RD (2010) European trends in farmland birds, BOU Proceedings: Lowland Farmland Birds III, www.bou.org.uk/bouproc-net/lfb3/vorisek-etal.pdf

  • Zmihorski M, Romanowski J, Osojaca G (2009) Habitat preferences of a declining population of the little owl, Athene noctua in Central Poland. Folia Zool 58:207–215

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuur A, Ieno EN, Walker N, Saveliev AA, Smith GM (2009) Mixed effects models and extensions in ecology with R. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the Land-Registry Office Luxembourg for providing data and aerial imageries. We thank Simone Schneider, Marc Olinger, Claudine Junck and Fernand Schoos (Biological station SICONA, Luxembourg) for providing occurrence data of A. noctua, the information on nesting boxes, and for valuable comments on a draft version of this article. We thank Mike Teucher (Trier, Germany) for producing Fig. 1, as well as Martin Husemann (MLU, Halle, Germany) and Dries Van Nieuwenhuyse (Netherlands) for their critical comments and linguistic improvement of an earlier version of this article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Jan Christian Habel, Julia Braun, Wolfgang W. Weisser & Martin M. Gossner

  2. Restoration Ecology, Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, Technische Universität München, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Christina Fischer

Authors
  1. Jan Christian Habel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julia Braun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Christina Fischer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Wolfgang W. Weisser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Martin M. Gossner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jan Christian Habel.

Additional information

Communicated by Stuart Pimm.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 88 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Habel, J.C., Braun, J., Fischer, C. et al. Population restoration of the nocturnal bird Athene noctua in Western Europe: an example of evidence based species conservation. Biodivers Conserv 24, 1743–1753 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0893-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0893-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation