Abstract
Hunting is an important traditional and economic activity in the Iberian Peninsula. However, a very small amount of papers focuses on the relation between small-game species and landscape structure. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to determine the main relationships between landscape structure and game species thus obtaining new management methods to enhance game communities. Hunting bags were used to obtain abundance, diversity and dominance indices of game species in 2000. The abundances of several game species were related with land uses and landscape indices, which were used as independent variables (obtained using Arcview, Fragstats and Idrisi) in regression models. Considering the associations between wildlife species and traditional land usages, the woodcock profits from recent abandonment areas (p = 0.001, r = 0.915) and avoids dense shrublands (p = 0.001, r = 0.967). The red-legged partridge is positively related with old abandonment areas (p = 0.013, r = 0.820) and collared-doves benefit from afforested dense pines (p = 0.001, r = 0.916). The wild rabbit was positively related with fruit groves p < 0.001, r = 0.995), pine forest areas ((p < 0.001, r = 0.989), and old abandonment areas (p < 0.001, r = 1.0) and negatively related with oak wood (p < 0.001, r = 0.953) and urban areas (p < 0.001, r = 0.998). Hares were positively related with old abandonment areas (p = 0.010, r = 0.767) and avoid irrigated crops (p = 0.010, r = 0.919). Wild boars and red foxes presented positive relations with dense shrublands (respectively, p = 0.012, r = 0.821 and p = 0.005, r = 0.789). Considering landscape structure indices, the red-legged partridge is related to fractal dimensions and patch richness density (p = 0.01, r = 0.787 and p = 0.01, r = 0.916, respectively). The wood pigeon and turtle dove are related to the aggregation index and the contagion index (p = 0.016, r = 0.805 and p = 0.018, r = 0.798, respectively). Wild rabbits and hares are related with fractal dimension (respectively, p = 0.009, r = 0.770 and p = 0.001, r = 0.831) and perimeter-area ratio (respectively, p = 0.009, r = 0.920 and p = 0.001, r = 0.974).
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