Hunting Levels of Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur) at Sites Where Food Is Provided: Implications for Sustainable Harvesting

[EN] The European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) is an important gamebird in south-western Europe, and in some areas a significant proportion of hunting grounds conduct targeted management aiming to increase its breeding densities and hunting opportunities, mainly through food provision. Using ha...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Rocha, Gregorio, Tizado Morales, Emilio Jorge, Sánchez García, Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Repositorio:BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
OAI Identifier:oai:buleria.unileon.es:10612/18160
Acceso en línea:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/16/2106
https://hdl.handle.net/10612/18160
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Zoología
Columbids
European turtle dove
Food plots
Monitoring
Productivity
Quota
Streptopelia turtur
Sustainable hunting
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] The European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) is an important gamebird in south-western Europe, and in some areas a significant proportion of hunting grounds conduct targeted management aiming to increase its breeding densities and hunting opportunities, mainly through food provision. Using harvest data from managed grounds, we estimated the productivity (juvenile/adult ratio), the harvesting levels and the local turtle dove abundance before the hunting season, the latter being compared to the number of birds observed by hunters in food plots. Our research found high values of productivity and significant differences between the estimated abundance and the number of birds observed by hunters, which suggests that in a high proportion of grounds, the latter method may have led to bird overestimation and overharvesting. As managed grounds for the turtle dove may increase the productivity and recruitment of the species, it is crucial to ensure sustainable harvesting through (1) bird monitoring based on transects to calculate abundance and (2) promoting regulations to adjust the number of hunting days.