Multi-scale habitat association of the ortolan bunting Emberiza hortulana in a sub-mediterranean area in Slovenia

Maarten De Groot and Primož Kmecl and Andrej Figelj and Jernej Figelj and Tomaž Mihelič and Borut Rubinič (2010) Multi-scale habitat association of the ortolan bunting Emberiza hortulana in a sub-mediterranean area in Slovenia. Ardeola : revista iberica de ornitologia . pp. 55-68. ISSN 0570-7358

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Abstract

The habitat selection of the ortolan bunting Emberiza hortulana has been examined on multiple spatial scales. Habitat variables of territories and random points were measured in the field on a 25 m radius and from GIS layers on scales of 25 m, 100 m, 500 m and 1,000 m radius. Habitat variables were analysed by a generalized linear model. The ortolan bunting was found on a 25 m radius in areas with a few black pines, with low grass and open patches within the herbaceous layer. On a 100 m radius scale, the probability of occurrence was highest in areas with meadows with large trees, permanent and partly overgrown meadows, and small areas of forests. On a 500 m radius scale, the occurrence of the ortolan bunting was negatively affected by urban areas and their infrastructure and by forests, and positively by partly overgrown meadows and permanent meadows with or without large trees. On a 1,000 m radius, permanent meadows with or without large trees, and the absence of large urban areas and infrastructure positively affected the presence of the ortolan bunting. In conclusion, factors influencing habitat selection by the ortolan bunting differ according to spatial scale. On the territorial level, its presence was only influenced by cover of open and partly overgrown meadows and by forest, while on larger scales it was also affected by the cover of urban areas. Factors influence habitat selection differently on different scales; a forest influences the probability of a territory positively on a small scale while negatively on larger scales. Factors influencing the habitat selection positively on a larger scale are becoming less common and therefore fewer suitable sites are available for the ortolan bunting in Kras

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