Distribution of the European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) at the edge of the South-Western Palaearctic: transboundary differences and conservation prospects

Tellería, José Luis; Carbonell, Roberto; Fandós, Guillermo; Tena, Elena; Onrubia, Alejandro; Qninba, Abdeljebbar; Aguirre, José I.; Hernández‐Téllez, Irene; Martín, Carlos A.; Ramírez, Álvaro

doi:10.1007/s10344-020-01414-w

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The breeding biology of turtle doves has been widely studied in Europe and Northwest Africa ( Gruychev & Mihaylov, 2019 ; Dunn et al, 2021 ; Squalli et al, 2021 ; Mansouri et al, 2022a ; Squalli et al, 2022 ). Breeding turtle doves were monitored in different ecosystems, including farmlands ( Mansouri et al, 2019 , 2020b , 2021b ), riparian systems ( Chiatante, Porro & Meriggi, 2021 ; Mansouri et al, 2021b ; Squalli et al, 2022 ), and forests ( Moreno Zarate et al, 2020 ; Tellería et al, 2020 ; Mansouri et al, 2021b ). Generally, breeding success was low ( Hanane, 2017 ; Mansouri et al, 2021b ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High density and successful breeding of Turtle doves Streptopelia turtur in Moroccan olive groves

Squalli

Mansouri

Fadil

et al. 2022

PeerJ

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Background The turtle dove is a migratory species that has suffered a rapid decline principally across its Northern ranges, despite pronounced conservation measures. Consequently, it has been categorized as ‘Near Threatened’ in Europe. Degradation of breeding habitats and a decrease in food resources are listed as principal causes of this decline. Despite its importance, the productivity of the North African population is widely unknown. Here we present the first estimation of the density of the breeding population and the superior reproductively of Streptopelia turtur arenicola in Morocco and entire North Africa. Methods This study was carried out for two seasons 2018–2019 in the Saïss plain, central Morocco. Based on previous data, doves were monitored weekly, from early March to late August, in aquatic ecosystems (two dams and one river) and farmlands (cereals and orchards). The breeding population was censused using the “point-count” method, following a walked transect of 5 km in orchards, 7 km in cereal fields, and 3 km along the river. Equally, nests were searched in natural habitats counting riparian trees, forests, and ornamental trees, and in orchards based on the Common Birds Census (CBC) methodology, in which the singing doves, mating pairs, nesting, and/or feeding behavior were the most monitored signs to discover nests. In orchards, nests were searched line-by-line based on the rows of fruit trees. For each recorded nest, we note the breeding chronology, clutch size and incubation period, success and failure factors, dimensions, and vertical placement on trees. To evaluate the predictors of doves’ occurrence, we noted at each site the presence of cereals, water, human disturbance, presence of nesting trees, and predators. Results and Discussion In total, 3,580 turtle doves (22.37 birds/ha), including 240 breeding pairs, were documented. Nesting occurred mainly in olive groves, cereals were used for forage, and aquatic ecosystems for water sources. The nesting period lasted from late April to July (last fledglings). All nests were located on olive trees at a height of 225.30 ± 48.87 cm. The clutch size was 1.98 ± 0.13 (laid eggs/built nests), the incubation period lasted 14.16 ± 1.32 days, and the rearing period lasted 16.54 ± 1.76 days. The breeding success among the 240 monitored nests accounted for 73.84% during the nesting phase and 87.42% during the incubation phase; 71.5%% of nestlings have fledged, which is the highest success rate for turtle doves in Europe and Northwest Africa. Clutches were aborted mostly due to predation from snakes (7.5% of nests, 16.12% of eggs, and 5.63% of chicks), nest desertion (9.16% of nests and 5.37% of eggs), and marginally by the destruction of nests through farming activities. These findings are important for conservation plans, to restore turtle doves’ habitats in Europe, where the species is widely declining.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High density and successful breeding of Turtle doves Streptopelia turtur in Moroccan olive groves

Squalli

Mansouri

Fadil

et al. 2022

PeerJ

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“…Most studies of the turtle dove on both European and North African populations have focused on farmland habitats, involving breeding biology [3,[19][20][21][22], habitat use [3,4,7,[25][26][27][28], foraging [4,18,[29][30][31], and migration [32][33][34]. In natural forests, studies were mainly limited to habitat use [27,[35][36][37][38][39] and feeding resources [31,37]. Moreover, no breeding comparison has been carried out between wild and farmland habitats in both Europe and Africa, and this justifies the crucial need to analyse the situation of turtle doves in both woodlands and agricultural habitats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Nesting Features and Breeding Success of Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur between Orchards and Riparian Habitats

Mansouri¹,

Squalli²,

Agy³

et al. 2021

International Journal of Zoology

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The European turtle dove Streptopelia turtur breeds in both farmlands and woodlands, and it is important to explore the difference in breeding ecology of this threatened game in these two ecosystem types. This study, carried out during four years (2015–2018), compares nesting features of this species and its breeding success between apple orchards and riparian vegetation in Midelt Province, Morocco. The main result revealed that the nest placement, including nesting-tree height and nest height, is similar between orchards and riparian trees. However, the nest dimensions (big and small diameters) were larger in orchards. Correlations were variable among nest placement parameters and dimensions. On the contrary, in four breeding seasons, where 566 nests were monitored (467 in orchards and 99 in riparian sites), the average breeding success was different (57% of chicks in apple farms and 53% in riparian vegetation). Moreover, in apple orchards, clutches’ failure is due to both predation (18.89% of eggs and 10.54% of chicks) and temperature lowering (5.03% of unhatched eggs and 5.49% of dead chicks), while in riparian vegetation, the loss is due to nest desertion (21.33% of clutches) and mostly predation (33.16% of clutches).

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“…To do this, we assessed the abundance of the Eurasian blackcap in the four study areas around the sampling points in May-June of 2019. This assessment was carried out by counting blackcaps in sampling points randomly distributed across different woodlands within each of the four areas (see Tellería et al 2020 for further details on the sampling protocol). At each sampling point, the abundance of blackcaps was recorded during a 10-min period within a 100-m-wide radius (Johnson 2008).…”

Section: Productivity and Blackcap Abundancementioning

confidence: 99%

Feather traits in four southern populations of the Eurasian blackcapSylvia atricapilla: do altitudinal movements explain the differences?

Hernández‐Téllez

Aguirre

Hera

et al. 2021

Journal of Avian Biology

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Moult of birds is shaped by environmental and genetic drivers whose relative contribution to the structure of feathers may differ within and between populations. In this study, we compare some traits of tail feathers (growth bars, mass, rachis width and barb length) between four populations of the Eurasian blackcap Sylvia atricapilla breeding at different elevations within the southwestern Palaearctic. We tested if these traits were related to the primary productivity of habitats (a surrogate of food availability) or were better explained as an adaptation to altitudinal movements. The distribution of primary productivity was positively related to blackcap abundance suggesting that the species tracked the most productive areas to breed. In this environmental setting, wing morphology (wing length, concavity and pointedness) suggested that lowland blackcaps were sedentary while blackcaps from highland areas were involved in altitudinal movements. The feathers of blackcaps inhabiting the highlands showed wider growth bars and rachis than those of the most productive lowland areas but did not differ in feather mass and barb length. Fast feather growth has been related to time constraints to moult and wider rachis to improve flight efficiency in migratory birds. Our results therefore suggest that differences in feather characteristics between southern populations of the Eurasian blackcap are better interpreted as an adaptive response to altitudinal migration than as a consequence of regional food availability.

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Distribution of the European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) at the edge of the South-Western Palaearctic: transboundary differences and conservation prospects

Cited by 11 publications

References 47 publications

High density and successful breeding of Turtle doves Streptopelia turtur in Moroccan olive groves

High density and successful breeding of Turtle doves Streptopelia turtur in Moroccan olive groves

Comparison of Nesting Features and Breeding Success of Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur between Orchards and Riparian Habitats

Feather traits in four southern populations of the Eurasian blackcapSylvia atricapilla: do altitudinal movements explain the differences?

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