Crop vegetation structure is more important than crop type in determining where Lesser Kestrels forage

Rodríguez, Carlos; Tapia, Luis; Ribeiro, Emanuel; Bustamante, Javier

doi:10.1017/s0959270913000129

Cited by 28 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Cereals have little demand for pesticides and are, mostly, nonirrigated in Greece (EEC 2007). The results agree with the findings of other lesser kestrel studies in the Iberian Peninsula where the species occurrence is associated with extensive cereals, a habitat related with the abundance of preferred prey, mainly during chick-rearing period that is crucial for the species reproductive success (Doňazar et al 1993;Parr et al 1995;Bustamante 1997;Tella et al 1998;Rodríguez et al 2006;De Frutos & Olea 2008;Catry et al 2013;Rodríguez et al 2014;Hernán-dez-Pliego et al 2017). Thus, Lesser Kestrels could stand as a biodiversity surrogate and as an umbrella species for delivering farmland biodiversity conservation in the agro-ecosystems of Greece.…”

Section: Lesser Kestrel Colonies -Habitat Associationssupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Field margins were not included in model development, because they could not be detected by the image classification analysis because of the coarseness of the thematic map resolution (30 m pixel). This habitat is commonly reported to be preferred for foraging by Lesser Kestrels (Parr et al 1997;Tella et al 1998;Rodríguez et al 2006;Rodríguez & Bustamante 2008;Rodríguez et al 2014).…”

Section: Lesser Kestrel Colonies -Habitat Associationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…dry cereals, other low-input arable crops, grasslands and other HNVf that support Lesser Kestrels), creation of wildlife refuges and corridors (field margins, uncultivated land strips and field borders used as foraging sites), preservation and planting of tree stands (used as perches by birds) and maintenance of all structural landscape elements in intensive arable cultivations (Marshall & Moonen 2002). They could enhance the creation of habitat heterogeneity (Rodríguez & Bustamante 2008;Catry et al 2012;Rodríguez et al 2014) and support a high variety in density and species composition of both wild flora and fauna in farmland areas (Suárez et al 1997;Oňate et al 2007). Moreover, maintenance of traditional cereal fields that retain scattered non-cropped areas of fallow land at different age level, semi-natural and edge habitats would be beneficial for Lesser Kestrels and other species in the agro-ecosystems of Greece.…”

Section: Conservation Planning For Lesser Kestrelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The spatial distributions of biodiversity surrogates and umbrella species can be integrated with environmental information through predictive models to identify priority sites in conservation planning, particularly across large spatial scales (Guisan & Thuiller 2005). In recent decades, lesser kestrel habitat studies have related its occurrence with low-input farming systems and heterogeneous landscapes with cereals, uncultivated patches, fallow land and pastures, that is, typical HNVf, also revealing the negative impact of CAP on those agricultural areas and the species' survival in its breeding areas (Bustamante 1997;De Frutos et al 2007Rodríguez et al 2014).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Assessing the importance of High Nature Value farmlands for the conservation of Lesser Kestrels Falco naumanni

Galanaki¹,

Kominos²,

Jones³

2017

European Journal of Ecology

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Agricultural areas, such as cereal cultivations, that support species of European and/or national conservation concern are considered as ‘High Nature Value’ farmlands (HNVf) and are very important for the preservation of biodiversity in Europe. The lesser kestrel Falco naumanni is a migratory falcon breeding largely in the HNVf of the Mediterranean basin. The main cause of its decline in Europe has been habitat loss and degradation as a result of agricultural intensification driven largely by the EU Common Agricultural Policies (CAP). In Greece, its population dropped by about 50% since the 1970s and its preferred habitats have shrunk. The aim of this study was to assess habitat preferences of breeding Lesser Kestrels in agro-ecosystems of Greece and relate these habitats to HNVf for conservation purposes. The study area is located in the plain of Thessaly, Central Greece, holding the main lesser kestrel breeding populations in the country, where dry cereal crops have been significantly depleted over the past decades. Species distribution models were developed with generalised additive models for the analyses. Predicted probability of lesser kestrel occurrence was found to be positively associated with farmed landscapes of dry cereal cultivations. Other important predictors were cultivated irrigated farmland and landscape heterogeneity. Main results of the statistical models agree with the findings of other habitatbased studies that highlight the importance of low-input farming systems, that is, HNVf, for safeguarding vital Lesser Kestrels habitats in their breeding grounds in the Mediterranean. A key conservation priority for conserving species dependant on HNVf is the maintenance of those low-input farming systems and the implementation of a greener CAP that would promote environmental-friendly farming practices to preserve and enhance biodiversity in the agro-ecosystems of Europe.

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Section: Lesser Kestrel Colonies -Habitat Associationssupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Lesser Kestrel Colonies -Habitat Associationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conservation Planning For Lesser Kestrelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Assessing the importance of High Nature Value farmlands for the conservation of Lesser Kestrels Falco naumanni

Galanaki¹,

Kominos²,

Jones³

2017

European Journal of Ecology

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“…[12,57]. In diet analyses studies, Orthoptera were identified as lesser kestrel's most favourable prey items [16,17].…”

Section: Foraging Habitat Selection Of Lesser Kestrelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lesser Kestrel Foraging Habitats in Special Protection Areas in Agro-ecosystems

Galanaki¹,

Kominos²,

Jones³

2017

JAST-A

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Abstract:The European Union (EU) Wild Birds Directive recognises that the most serious threats to wild birds' conservation in Europe are habitat loss and degradation, and hence, habitats of threatened and migratory species must be protected with the establishment of the network of the special protection areas (SPAs) for migratory and endangered bird species in the EU member states. The major European population of the lesser kestrel Falco naumanni, a migratory falcon listed in Annex I of the Birds Directive, occurs in low-input farming systems in the Mediterranean basin, including Greece. The aim of this study was to identify foraging habitats of lesser kestrels and relate them to the delimited SPAs in the agro-ecosystems of Greece, where the stronghold of the species population for Greece occurs. Foraging habitat preferences were assessed using Poisson regression models (PRMs). SPAs were examined on whether they can effectively protect foraging habitats for breeding lesser kestrels in the study area. Foraging lesser kestrel abundance was positively associated with grasslands and non-irrigated land (dry cereals), and negatively associated with irrigated land (wet cotton), scrubland and woodland. Electricity facilities were used as foraging perches by lesser kestrels. The current SPAs cover a small percentage of the species' foraging sites and cannot be considered coherent enough to support and protect the foraging habitats of lesser kestrels and other priority species in the agro-ecosystems of the study area. Proposals for effective conservation of low-input farming systems, supporting priority species, are also presented.

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Time series enable the characterization of small‐scale vegetation dynamics that influence fine‐scale animal behavior – an example from white storks' foraging behavior

Standfuß

Geiß

Nathan

et al. 2022

Remote Sens Ecol Conserv

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Agricultural activities and vegetation growth cause rapid small‐scale vegetation changes which dynamically alter habitat suitability. Time series enable to track down such variations of vegetation structure and are promising to examine their impact on animals' life. Nevertheless, their potential to characterize vegetation dynamics in ways pertinent to animals' fine‐scale habitat use has not been adequately explored and ecologically meaningful proxies are lacking. To address this gap, we exemplary investigated foraging activities of breeding white storks in an agricultural landscape. Reflecting on the understanding that storks require short vegetation to access prey, we examined if good foraging conditions – early growth and post‐harvest/mowing periods – are detectable using the points between local minima/maxima in NDVI profiles (half‐maximum). We processed 1 year of Landsat imagery to identify half‐maximum periods (HM: good prey access) and non‐half‐maximum periods (non‐HM: poor prey access) on field‐scale in croplands and grasslands. Additionally, we mapped used/unused fields and retrieved foraging duration/daily visitation rates from GPS tracks of the storks. We then explored habitat use, compared habitat use with habitat availability and tested temporal predictors distinguishing between HM/non‐HM in habitat selection models. Examining habitat use, storks revisited croplands and grasslands significantly more often during HM than during non‐HM, while foraging duration was only prolonged in croplands during HM. However, comparing habitat use with habitat availability, we observed that storks used croplands and grasslands in significantly higher proportions during HM than during non‐HM. Additionally, we found that temporal information affected storks' habitat selection and improved model performance. Our findings emphasize that the half‐maximum proxy enables to coarsely distinguish temporal resource variations in storks' foraging habitats, highlighting the potential of time series for characterizing behaviorally‐relevant vegetation dynamics. Such information helps to create more species‐centered landscape scenarios in habitat models, allowing to unravel effects of small‐scale environmental changes on wildlife to ultimately guide conservation and management.

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Crop vegetation structure is more important than crop type in determining where Lesser Kestrels forage

Cited by 28 publications

References 35 publications

Assessing the importance of High Nature Value farmlands for the conservation of Lesser Kestrels Falco naumanni

Assessing the importance of High Nature Value farmlands for the conservation of Lesser Kestrels Falco naumanni

Lesser Kestrel Foraging Habitats in Special Protection Areas in Agro-ecosystems

Time series enable the characterization of small‐scale vegetation dynamics that influence fine‐scale animal behavior – an example from white storks' foraging behavior

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