Changes in habitat selection patterns of the gray partridge Perdix perdix in relation to agricultural landscape dynamics over the past two decades.

ABSTRACT: Changes in agricultural practices have reshaped agricultural landscapes and triggered a drastic decline in spatial and temporal heterogeneity leading to changes in habitat quality and food resources for birds. However, the precise relationships between landscape changes, spatial and temporal heterogeneity, and habitat preferences in response to those changes remain poorly known.We investigated patterns of habitat selection and causes for changes over the years 1997-2017 for the gray partridge Perdix perdix, an iconic farmland species which has experienced a severe decline since the 1950s. Using a long-term (1997-2017) dataset collected over 435 km², we modeled relationships between annual land-cover maps and partridge sightings over 17 5-year moving windows, assessing the

SUBMITTER: Harmange C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6509401 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature