Habitat Use and Selection: Is Habitat Management the Key to Restore Red-Legged Partridge Populations?

Abstract

Red-legged partridge is a very adaptable species that can be found in a wide variety of habitats and climates. Nevertheless, it is in agrarian pseudo-steppes of the Mediterranean basin where partridges reach their highest densities. In this chapter we reviewed habitat preferences for red-legged partridges during their life cycle along their range. Red-legged partridge habitat use and selection during non-breeding season vary among regions, selecting mostly areas dominated by a mosaic of crops with longer availability of field boundaries and small interspersed patches of natural vegetation. Red-legged partridges select nesting places with dense and tall vegetation cover, and habitat use would vary according to availability, although field boundaries play an important role in nesting success. Overall, habitat diversity and heterogeneity (areas dominated by a mosaic of cropped and non-cropped habitats and interspersed patches of short Mediterranean shrubland), along with high surface availability of field boundaries, define habitat quality for red-legged partridges, but it has been strongly affected by agricultural intensification, being considered the main cause of the decline of red-legged partridge population. Therefore, an “eco-friendly” CAP (Common Agrarian Policy), acting over arable lands and agricultural practices that would favour partridges and diversity in farmland ecosystems, introducing new commitments and incentives for beneficiaries can be essential, and it should be considered a priority to maintain and improve biodiversity and the use of natural resources by humans in agrarian ecosystems. The maintenance and increase of field boundaries surfaced in arable ecosystems, vegetated fallows, beetle banks and mixed crops for game and other wildlife could be positive habitat management actions for partridges and biodiversity in general, in farmland ecosystems.