| Autor: |
Rajković, Draženko Z., Stanković, Daliborka, Šeat, Jelena, Stevanović, Dejan S., Andrejević Stošović, Miona V., Skorić, Stefan |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
Animals (2076-2615); Nov2024, Vol. 14 Issue 22, p3338, 18p |
| Abstrakt: |
Simple Summary: Using GPS technology, we investigated the spatial ecology of seven male tawny owls in the heterogeneous landscape of Western Serbia during the non-breeding season. Our main goals were to measure home range and core area sizes, understand their habitat choice, and describe roost site characteristics. We caught the owl males and fitted them with lightweight transmitters, which allowed us to track their movements. We found that home ranges varied significantly, with an average size of around 2.2 km2. Males with larger body mass exhibited smaller home ranges. Also, we observed minimal overlap in space use between individuals, indicating quite strong territoriality. In terms of habitat selection, increased area of cultivated land substantially reduced the probability of tawny owl presence, while suburban, built-up areas increased it. Our findings provide a better understanding of the home range and habitat selection of tawny owls on the central Balkan Peninsula. This knowledge could have a considerable implication for land-use practices and effective conservation strategies. Describing home range and resource selection is crucial for understanding ecological needs and creating conservation programs. Still, our knowledge of spatial and behavioural ecology for most species remains limited. Here, we used satellite transmitters to investigate core and home range sizes, habitat selection, and roost characteristics in seven tawny owl males in Western Serbia during the autumn–winter period 2023. Using minimum convex polygon (MCP) and autocorrelated kernel density estimation (AKDE), we found clear variability in core area and home range sizes. Also, adult and heavier males have smaller core area and home ranges than juvenile and lightweight individuals. The Bhattacharyya coefficient showed minor home range overlap in tagged males. The final model for evaluation of habitat selection suggests that the likelihood of owl occurrence was positively correlated with the share of anthropogenic infrastructure and negatively associated with the increase in the proportion of cultivated land within the home range. However, scores of model performance metrics showed moderate predictive accuracy, implying that other unmeasured variables may dictate species presence. Our study illustrates the ecological plasticity and ability of the tawny owl to adapt to a human-modified environment while providing new information about the spatial ecology of this widespread predator in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Databáze: |
Complementary Index |
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