Behaviour-specific habitat selection patterns of breeding barn owls

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Conservation Biology
• Wildlife Ecology

Background:

• Intensified agriculture negatively impacts farmland biodiversity.
• Agri-environment schemes (AES) aim to mitigate these effects by promoting habitats like wildflower strips.
• The benefit of AES for top predators, such as raptors, remains under investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate barn owl (Tyto alba) habitat selection based on distinct behaviors.
• To assess the role of AES habitats in supporting barn owl populations.

Main Methods:

• GPS tracking of 134 barn owls in Swiss farmland.
• Utilizing Expectation-Maximization binary Clustering (EMbC) to identify perching, hunting, and commuting behaviors.
• Applying step and path selection functions to analyze habitat use relative to behavior and AES structures.

Main Results:

• Barn owls exhibit behavior-specific habitat preferences.
• Nocturnal perching occurred in pastures, meadows, and forest edges; diurnal roosting was primarily in buildings.
• Hunting behavior preferentially utilized AES habitats, though intensive areas were also used; commuting favored open habitats.

Conclusions:

• A behavior-specific approach is vital for understanding complex habitat selection in barn owls.
• AES are crucial for restoring and maintaining functional trophic chains in agricultural landscapes.