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Influence of habitat on nest location and reproductive output of Montagu’s Harriers breeding in natural vegetation

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Abstract

We examined distribution and breeding success of semi-colonial Montagu’s Harriers (Circus pygargus) in relation to habitat in Castellón province (eastern Spain). Breeding areas used by harriers at a 1-km2 scale were characterised by having intermediate percentages of scrub cover, their nesting habitat, and also had intermediate coverage of herbaceous crops and non-irrigated orchards. Out of all habitat variables considered, only the percentage of herbaceous crops within 500 m from individual nests had a positive and significant effect on breeding output of the species, suggesting that this habitat may be efficiently used by harriers to forage. Breeding output was also related to laying date and number of breeding neighbours within 500 m around nests, with pairs laying later and having a higher number of breeding neighbours showing lower fledged brood sizes. Number of neighbours (but not laying date) was positively related to scrub cover within 500 m and to cover of herbaceous crops within 2,000 m. Conservation actions for Montagu’s Harrier in the study area should be aimed at preserving areas of scrub with nearby presence of herbaceous crops or natural grasslands. However, habitat improvement for semi-colonial species such as Montagu’s Harrier may not result in a change of species distribution area, and good habitat areas may remain unoccupied, as social factors like presence of conspecifics play an important role in breeding area selection for these species.

Zusammenfassung

Wir untersuchten die Verteilung und den Bruterfolg von halb-kolonialen Wiesenweihen (Circus pygargus) in Bezug zum Habitat in der Provinz Castellón im Osten Spaniens. Das Brutgebiet der Wiesenweihen war, auf einer 1 km2-Skala betrachtet, charakterisiert durch mittlere Bedeckung mit Buschwerk. Das Nesthabitat war zusätzlich bestimmt durch mittlere Bedeckung mit krautigen Pflanzen und nicht-bewässerten Obstgärten. Von allen Habitatvariablen, die wir betrachtet hatten, hatte nur der Prozentsatz der Bedeckung mit Krautpflanzen innerhalb von 500 m um die individuellen Nester einen positiven und signifikanten Effekt auf den Bruterfolg der Art. Dies lässt vermuten, dass dieses Habitat effizient von Wiesenweihen zum Furagieren genutzt wird. Der Bruterfolg war auch mit dem Legezeitpunkt korreliert, sowie mit der Anzahl von brütenden Nachbarn innerhalb eines Umkreises von 500 m um das Nest. Spät legende Paare und die mit mehr Nachbarn hatten einen niedrigeren Bruterfolg. Die Anzahl der Nachbarn (allerdings nicht der Legezeitpunkt) war positiv korreliert mit dem Grad der Bedeckung mit Buschwerk im 500 m Umkreis und mit dem Bedeckungsgrad der Krautpflanzen im Umkreis von 2,000 m um das Nest. Schutzmaßnahmen für Wiesenweihen sollten auf Gebiete mit Buschbedeckung und Präsenz von Krautpflanzen oder natürlichen Wiesengebieten abzielen. Jedoch sollte eine solche Habitatverbesserung für halb-kolonial brütende Arten, wie die Wiesenweihe, nicht zu einer Veränderung der Verbreitung führen. Auch können Gebiete mit gutem Habitat trotzdem nicht besiedelt werden, da soziale Faktoren wie die Präsenz von Artgenossen eine wichtige Rolle für die Wahl des Nistplatzes bei solchen Arten spielen.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Aeropuerto de Castellón for support and funding. A part of the data presented in this work comes from the monitoring and conservation programme for Montagu’s Harrier in Castellón, and has been provided by D.G. de Gestión del Medio Natural (Consellería de Medio Ambiente, Agua, Urbanismo y Vivienda, Generalitat Valenciana). We are particularly thankful to Juan Jiménez and also to Sara Ferreras and Teresa de Chiclana for helping in the fieldwork. Finally, we are indebted to C. Trierweiler, Pascual López-López, Mark Wilson and two anonymous referees, whose comments improved a previous version of the manuscript. First author had a grant from the Generalitat Valenciana, and now has a postdoctoral grant (reference 10/12-C) co-funded by Consejería de Educación y Ciencia (Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha) and the European Social Fund. All the research done for this study complies with the current laws of Spain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Investigación Zoología de Vertebrados, CIBIO, Universidad de Alicante, Apdo. correos 99, 03080, Alicante, Spain

    Ruben Limiñana, Vicente Urios & Abilio Reig-Ferrer

  2. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13005, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Ruben Limiñana & Beatriz E. Arroyo

  3. Centro de Recuperación de Fauna “Forn del Vidre”, Generalitat Valenciana, Castellón, Spain

    Martín Surroca

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  1. Ruben Limiñana
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  2. Beatriz E. Arroyo
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  3. Martín Surroca
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  4. Vicente Urios
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  5. Abilio Reig-Ferrer
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Correspondence to Ruben Limiñana.

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Communicated by F. Bairlein.

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Limiñana, R., Arroyo, B.E., Surroca, M. et al. Influence of habitat on nest location and reproductive output of Montagu’s Harriers breeding in natural vegetation. J Ornithol 152, 557–565 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-010-0615-8

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