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Vegetation, precipitation and demographic response of a woodland predator: Tawny Owl Strix aluco as an indicator of soil aridity in Castelporziano forest

  • Coastal Forest Ecosystem near Rome
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Abstract

The demographic performance of avian predators is influenced by climate variations. The Plant Area Index (PAI) is considered a key descriptor of the (evolving) vegetation sensitive to climate and soil aridity and drought stress. To assess if the increased aridity regime in the mediterranean region affects the reproduction of a forest predator, the breeding success of the Tawny Owl Strix aluco was studied over 7 years (1997–2003) in Castelporziano, central Italy. The inter-annual fluctuations in owl demographic output observed in neighbor forest and agricultural sites were compared with climatic variables (rainfall, minimum and maximum air temperature, aridity index) and changes in the PAI estimated by satellite imagery. Out of 326 breeding attempts, the percentage of successful pairs per year ranged between 4 and 28 %, the number of fledglings per successful pair ranged between 1.0 and 1.8 and breeding rate (i.e. the number of fledglings per breeding pair) ranged between 0.1 and 0.4. Demographic, climatic and remotely sensed indexes showed coherent variations among years. Rainfall and lower aridity index are associated with a higher breeding success. The relationship between PAI and breeding rate was found significant only in forest sites. Results suggest that Tawny Owls may positively respond to drier weather conditions by reducing the breeding rate.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the ‘Segretariato Generale della Presidenza della Repubblica’, to the Director of Castelporziano Estate, to the ‘Osservatorio Centro Multidisciplinare degli Ecosistemi Costieri Mediterranei’ and to the ‘Commissione Scientifica della Tenuta di Castelporziano’. This research has been supported by grants assigned to A. Fanfani by the ‘Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze, detta dei XL’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie “C. Darwin”, Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Viale dell’Università 32, 00161, Rome, Italy

    Alberto Fanfani

  2. Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale, Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Fausto Manes

  3. Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria, Centro per lo studio delle Relazioni Pianta-Suolo (CRA-RPS), Via della Navicella 2-4, 00184, Rome, Italy

    Valerio Moretti & Luca Salvati

  4. Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Patologia, Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Via Regina Elena 324, 00161, Rome, Italy

    Lamberto Ranazzi

Authors
  1. Alberto Fanfani
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  2. Fausto Manes
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  3. Valerio Moretti
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  4. Lamberto Ranazzi
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  5. Luca Salvati
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valerio Moretti.

Additional information

This peer-reviewed article is a result of the multidisciplinary project coordinated by the “Academia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL”, Rome, Italy, in the area of the presidential estate of Castelporziano near Rome.

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Fanfani, A., Manes, F., Moretti, V. et al. Vegetation, precipitation and demographic response of a woodland predator: Tawny Owl Strix aluco as an indicator of soil aridity in Castelporziano forest. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 26 (Suppl 3), 391–397 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-015-0392-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-015-0392-7

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