Collared pratincole nest success in Hungary
Data files
Nov 20, 2023 version files 3.49 KB
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Collared_pratincole_nest_success_2012-2021.csv
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README.md
Abstract
Agricultural intensification has affected wildlife across Europe, triggering steep declines and regional extinctions of farmland birds. Effective conservation activities are essential for the preservation of biodiversity in an agricultural landscape, but current efforts have not succeeded in halting these declines. Here we investigate a ground-nesting shorebird, the collared pratincole, Glareola pratincola, which has shifted its habitat use in Central Europe over the last 20 years from alkaline grasslands to intensively managed agricultural fields. We show that nesting success was different between three agricultural habitat types, with the highest nesting success in fallow lands and the lowest in row crops. Nesting success was also associated with the timing of breeding and breeding density, as nests produced early in the breeding season and those in high-breeding-density areas hatched more successfully than those produced later in the season and at low density. We implemented direct conservation measures including marking nests and negotiating with farmers to avoid cultivating the field between nest markers, controlling nest predators, and, most recently, creating suitable nesting sites and foraging areas for pratincoles. As a result of these conservation actions, nest survival increased from 11.2% to 83.5% and the size of the breeding population increased from 13 to 56 pairs during 2012–2021. Thus, we show that agricultural landscapes can continue to provide important habitats, and targeted conservation actions have the potential to reverse the declines of farmland species.
README: Collared pratincole nest success in Hungary
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mgqnk9959
Description of the data and file structure
Datasets included: Data were collected during breeding period.
1 Year: - Current year of data collection.
2. Colony code: - Code of the current breeding site.
3. Location: - Hungarian Cadastre name of the nesting site.
4. Habitat type: - Type of the agricultural habitat.
5. Number of nests: - Number of founded nests in the actual breeding site.
6. Number of hatched nests: - Number of successfully hatched nests in the actual breeding site (Nest success meant that at least one young hatched per nest).