What makes a house a home? Nest box use by West European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) is influenced by nest box placement, resource provisioning and site-based factors.

ABSTRACT: Artificial refuges provided by householders and/or conservation practitioners potentially represent one mechanism for mitigating declines in the availability of natural nest sites used for resting, breeding and hibernating in urban areas. The effectiveness of such refuges for different species is, however, not always known. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey of UK householders to identify factors associated with the use of ground-level nest boxes for West European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus), a species of conservation concern. Overall, the percentage of boxes used at least once varied with season and type of use: summer day nesting (35.5-81.3%), breeding (7.2-28.2%), winter day nesting (20.1-66.5%) and hibernation (21.7-58.6%). The length of time the box had been

SUBMITTER: Gazzard A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9261924 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature