Factors affecting the reproductive performance of barbary partridges in cereal croplands of Northwestern Morocco: the role of timing of breeding and vegetation cover at fine-scale

Abstract

In Morocco, the barbary partridge (Alectoris barbara) is the major game species, highly valued by the nation’s hunters. Until recently little was known about factors affecting reproductive parameters of this species on cereal croplands in North Africa. In 2018, 51 nests were found and analyzed across two agricultural areas of Northwestrn Morocco (AGR1 and AGR2). In this work, I assessed the relevance of a set of environmental and anthropogenic variables in predicting the clutch size and number of chicks hatched per nest, by means of generalised linear mixed models (GLMM). The average clutch size and hatching success per nest were 12.26 (± 0.57) and 9.26 (± 0.95), respectively. In the two sites, clutch-size increased as the date advanced, but was significantly larger in AGR1 (13.17 ± 0.84, n = 26) than in AGR2 (11.20 ± 0.70, n = 25). The number of chicks hatched per nest increased over time but also with the increase of the vegetation cover at fine-scale. Barbary partridge reproductive parameters were neither affected by landscape nor anthropogenic variables. I discuss these findings and their ecological, and future research implications. I recommended to pursuit the investigations, while considering imperatively the age/sex ratios and predation pressure.