Evaluation of some theoretical Habitat improvement actions in a Mediterranean area through observation of pheasant and red-legged partridge land uses

Francesco Santilli

doi:10.2461/wbp.2014.10.4

Abstract

Red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) and Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) have suffered population declines in the last decades. Several researches have suggested that the decline is related to the habitat alterations in agricultural ecosystems caused by intensification of agricultural techniques and land abandonment. We evaluated habitat use and distribution of red-legged partridges pairs and cock pheasants in an estate that can be representative of most of the agricultural Mediterranean areas from 2007 to 2012 with particular attention to the effect of artificial Habitat Improvement Actions (HIAs) and other management options as supplemental feeding and hedgerows maintenance. We compared the habitat use with its availability and we analyzed the spatial distribution by comparing points with pheasant cocks and partridge pairs with random ones. HIAs were used more then their availability by both species and resulted to have an important role in their distribution as well as hedgerows. Feeders resulted to have a strong effect on pheasant distribution, but not on partridges pairs. Our results showed that habitat management could be a fundamental tool for game-birds conservation, however the effectiveness of the employment of artificial feeders need to be better clarified for red-legged partridges.

Highlights

Last century has witnessed a marked decline of red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) all through its range [1-4], including Italy [5]
Habitat use was significantly different from what expected both for red-legged partridge pairs and pheasant cocks
Pheasant cocks as well showed a higher use of habitat improvement actions (HIAs) than the other habitats (Table 4)

Summary

Introduction

Last century has witnessed a marked decline of red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) all through its range [1-4], including Italy [5]. In Tuscany (Central Italy), this species has become extinct at the beginning of the 20th century with the exception of a population still found in Elba Island. Several attempts to reestablish wild populations have been recently conducted, though not all of them turned out to be successful, probably due to the low quality of captive-reared birds [6-8]. Bag records of pheasants have shown a dramatic decline despite no significant variation in releasing rate and hunting pressure. In agreement with the trend observed in Italy, wild pheasant populations have declined since 1960s both in Europe and USA [9-13],. Santilli et al | Evaluation of some Habitat Improvemet Actions in a Mediterranean Area Through

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion