Multi-scale habitat selection and foraging ecology of the eurasian hoopoe (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Upupa epops</Emphasis>) in pine plantations |
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Authors: | Luc Barbaro Laurent Couzi Vincent Bretagnolle Julien Nezan Fabrice Vetillard |
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Institution: | (1) UMR1202, Biodiversité, Gènes et Communautés, INRA, Cestas, 33612, France;(2) Centre de Recherches sur la Biologie des Populations d’Oiseaux, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 55 rue Buffon, Paris, 75005, France;(3) Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS, Beauvoir sur Niort, 79360, France |
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Abstract: | Bird conservation can be challenging in landscapes with high habitat turnover such as planted forests, especially for species
that require large home ranges and juxtaposition of different habitats to complete their life cycle. The eurasian hoopoe (Upupa epops) has declined severely in western Europe but is still abundant in south-western France. We studied habitat selection of hoopoes
in pine plantation forests using a multi-scale survey, including point-counts at the landscape level and radio-tracking at
the home-range scale. We quantified habitat use by systematically observing bird behaviour and characterized foraging sites
according to micro-habitat variables and abundance of the main prey in the study area, the pine processionary moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa). At the landscape scale, hoopoes selected habitat mosaics of high diversity, including deciduous woods and hedgerows as
main nesting sites. At the home-range scale, hoopoes showed strong selection for short grassland vegetation along sand tracks
as main foraging habitats. Vegetation was significantly shorter and sparser at foraging sites than random, and foraging intensity
appeared to be significantly correlated with moth winter nest abundance. Hoopoe nesting success decreased during the three
study years in line with processionary moth abundance. Thus, we suggest that hoopoes need complementation between foraging
and breeding habitats to establish successfully in pine plantations. Hoopoe conservation requires the maintenance of adjacent
breeding (deciduous woods) and foraging habitats (short swards adjacent to plantation edges), and consequently depends on
the maintenance of habitat diversity at the landscape scale. |
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Keywords: | Bird conservation Foraging Habitat complementation Home range Mosaic landscapes Pine plantations Radio-tracking Thaumetopoea pityocampa Upupa epops |
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