The Importance of Low-Intensive Agricultural Landscape for Birds of Prey

Emanuel Ștefan Baltag, Viorel Pocora, Lucian Eugen Bolboaca and Constantin Ion
Additional contact information
Emanuel Ștefan Baltag: Marine Biological Station “Prof. Dr. Ioan Borcea”, Agigea, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, B-dul Carol I, No. 20A, 700506 Iași, Romania
Viorel Pocora: Romanian Ornithological Society/BirdLife Romania, B-dul Hristo Botev, nr. 3/6, 030231 Bucharest, Romania
Lucian Eugen Bolboaca: Center for the Study of Transborder and Emergent Diseases and Zoonoses, Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, Babadag Street, nr. 165, 820112 Tulcea, Romania
Constantin Ion: Faculty of Biology, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, B-dul Carol I, No. 20A, 700506 Iași, Romania

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Low-intensive agricultural areas of Romania sustain high species diversity. Together with natural habitats, these areas are very important for European biodiversity. The ecosystem´s health is reflected in the predator status because of their position at the top of the trophic networks. The Common Buzzard ( Buteo buteo ) is the most common bird of prey species in Europe. During the first survey census conducted in Eastern Romania (2011–2012 breeding seasons), 8.55–10.35 breeding pairs/100 square km have been counted. The Common Buzzard density varies between breeding seasons and with differences in habitat structure. Their density is positively influenced by the density of forest edge and Simpson diversity index of habitats but is negatively influenced by the total habitat fragmentation and mean daily temperature. According to this analysis, the selection of breeding territories by common buzzards is positively influenced by a heterogeneous landscape in an area with low-intensive agriculture and with large areas of open habitats made up of natural or semi-natural vegetation.

Keywords: Common Buzzard ( Buteo buteo ); habitat selectivity; landscape structure; Eastern Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/3/252/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/3/252/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:3:p:252-:d:509011

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().