Abstract Book

1 33rd IUBG Congress 14th Perdix Symposium 22-25th August, Montpellier, France Wildlife under human influence: what can we do? Contents Preface Page 3 Editorial 4 Tribute to Dick Potts 5 A big thanks to our partners! 7 The Venue 11 Organizing committee 12 Scientific committees 13 Awards 15 Programme at a glance 19 Detailed programme 21 Workshops 35 List of posters 42 Abstracts (alphabetic order of first author) 47 Recommended citation : Bro, E. & M. Guillemain (2017). 33rd IUGB Congress & 14th Perdix Symposium abstract book. ONCFS, Paris. Author (2017). Title. Pp. xx-yy in E. Bro & M. Guillemain (eds.) 33rd IUGB Congress & 14th Perdix Symposium abstract book. ONCFS, Paris. 2 Preface In the IUGB pioneers’ footsteps: gathering together for fruitful discussions! The International Union of Game Biologists was initiated on 17 October 1954 during a conference held in Düsseldorf (Federal Republic of Germany). Right from the start, IUGB aimed at gathering scientists willing to facilitate and improve research on wildlife and hunting, as stated by Professor Fritz Nüsslein from the Hann- Münden Institute of Hunting Science, one of the « fathers » of IUGB. During the second IUGB Congress in October 1955 in Graz (Austria), the activities of the organisation were formalized, with two major principles still in force today: congresses would be held every second year in a different country, and a committee of “Liaison officers” representing each member state would then meet to decide where to organize the next conference. During the 7th Congress in Belgrade (ex-Yugoslavia) in 1961 then during the 28th Congress in Uppsala (Sweden) in 2007, the Liaison Officer Committee worried that IUGB actually existed only during the Congresses, and did not have a proper legal status. Some were pleading for IUGB to become a « Wildlife Society » for Europe. IUGB eventually became a non-governmental organization under Swiss law in 2007, whose statutes followed the initial principles set during the early congresses. Such a simple yet efficient organisation has been able to organise without any discontinuity a long suite of 32 international congresses in 25 different countries over the last 63 years: 22 in Europe and 3 in North America. Seven countries (Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Portugal, Russia and Sweden) organised two such congresses. This 33rd IUGB Congress, associated with the 14th Perdix Symposium, will be the third to be organised by France. As the French Liaison Officer I volunteered during the Brussels congress in 2013. This edition will follow those organised in 1971 in Paris and in 1997 in Lyon. These events have all been organised by the French national institution in charge of applied game research. This organisation has evolved since 1971, and is now called the Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage (ONCFS). It is focused on improving knowledge and management of wildlife populations and habitats. The numerous collaborations between ONCFS and universities and research institutes in the country and abroad, some initiated during former IUGB congresses, have greatly facilitated the organisation of the present event. The sustained interest for IUGB Congresses should not decline this year in Montpellier, as can be judged from the 157 oral presentations – 34 for Perdix – and 89 posters in the programme. The many workshops dealing with current hot topics, often organised by scientists from several different countries, should foster fruitful discussions and pave the way for future research for a sustainable use of wildlife resources. In this context, the general theme of the congress this year “Wildlife under human influence” seems particularly timely. The excursions should allow our foreign visitors discovering the birdlife and remarkable wetlands of Camargue and the surroundings of Montpellier, the very typical Mediterranean habitats of red-legged partridges, or the great mountain mouflons. Beyond the exchanges during the proper congress sessions, the less formal discussions outside the official programme or during the excursions also contribute to the establishment of friendly relationships that are key to scientific partnerships. I have so many nice memories of the 7 IUGB Congresses I attended between 1987 and 2013 (in particular the great gala evening in Uppsala in 2007…) ! As stated by Paul Reydellet, co-founder of IUGB, during the 1971 Congress in Paris « IUGB once was a small group of friends who knew each other well, and met « as a family » with renewed pleasure and interest every second year ». I wish the 2017 IUGB Congress to also bring the same feeling among the participants. Dr Pierre Migot IUGB Liaison Officer for France (2005-2015) ONCFS Research Director (2008-2016) 3 Dear attendees, It is our pleasure to welcome you in Montpellier for this 33rd IUGB Congress and 14th International Perdix Symposium. This 2017 edition is dedicated to the general theme “Human and wildlife: what can we do?”, which is of utmost importance given global changes that people, wildlife and landscapes currently have to face together. Climate change as well as the exploitation of natural resources – among which hunting – and the generalized degradation of the natural environment have large-scale effects, some of which we only begin to evaluate. International conferences like IUGB and Perdix provide us with the opportunity to meet, connect and learn from each other, share our latest research results, and eventually envisage feasible means of conciliating human development with wildlife conservation. In addition to the strict theoretical and academic aspects, the aim of these gatherings is also to promote collaboration among stakeholders and encourage practical wildlife management. We are therefore delighted to see a good mixture of scientists, practitioners and managers in the list of participants. This 2017 edition has been successful in building up a large and diverse audience, bringing together hundreds of participants from Europe, North America, Africa and Asia to present 157 oral communications and 89 posters. As you will see, a wide range of topics will be covered during the Congress. As in former editions the program is built around the latest knowledge about the ecology of wildlife and the management of game populations. Beyond that, however, it will also address a wide range of topics ranging from practical use of new technology to the almost philosophical implications of human/wildlife coexistence. We do hope that each participant will find what they attended the Congress for, but will also learn most unexpected things! We are very grateful to the members of the two Scientific Committees who evaluated hundreds of abstracts, to the chairpersons contributing to attractive sessions and interesting discussion, and to all of those organising the field excursions to some of the most beautiful places around Montpellier. We also wish to thank the Organising Committee as well as our PhD squad who all did a tremendous job to ensure everyone has a great time during the Congress. As IUGB President and Chairs of the 33rd UIBG Congress and 14th Perdix symposium, it was a pleasure to work with such enthusiastic people. We wish to express our deepest thanks to the 12 leading scientists who accepted to give inspiring plenary lectures and keynote talks on topical issues, and thank you all for your numerous and interesting contributions. We hope you will enjoy this new edition of the IUGB Congress and Perdix Symposium, on scientific as well as social grounds. Make sure you take full advantage of the formal and less formal exchanges with the wonderful colleagues from all disciplines and geographic horizons! We wish you a fruitful and stimulating meeting. Elisabeth Bro, Chair of the 14th Perdix Symposium Matthieu Guillemain, Chair of the 33rd IUGB Congress Nirmala Séon-Massin, IUGB President Yves Lecocq, Former IUGB President It is with great sadness that the IUGB and Perdix team learned about the death of Dr. Dick Potts on March 30th, aged 78. Dick, the former Director General and Director of Research of the now Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust in the UK, was a world authority on the ecology and conservation of the grey partridge, and on the management of arable farmland (having introduced essential concepts such as conservation headlands and beetle banks). He was a long-time IUGB supporter and will be missed by numerous colleagues and friends. 4 G Richard (Dick) Potts, 1939-2017 Game biologist and grey partridge guru Dick was born in 1939 to a farming family in North Yorkshire, England. From an early age, he showed a keen interest in wildlife, and was struck by the bird mortality caused by the harsh 1947 winter. He studied zoology at Durham University, specialising in ecology and entomology, as well as participating in two expeditions to the Faeroe Islands to study seabirds. After graduation, he undertook a PhD on the breeding ecology of Shags on the Farne Islands, Northumberland. He witnessed at first hand the devastating impact of a toxic algal bloom on seabirds, which reinforced an interest in environmental poisons and led to a lifelong fascination with the processes that regulated bird populations. He joined The Game Conservancy in 1968, tasked with investigating why the grey partridge was in decline. With his farming background and ecological insight, Dick realised that to understand changes in partridge abundance, he needed to understand changes in the partridge environment. He identified three main causes of partridge decline: reduced chick survival through herbicide-induced reduction in chick-food invertebrates, lack of suitable nesting habitat reducing settling density, and poor nesting success due to predation – a trio he dubbed the “three-legged stool” on the grounds that if one leg failed, the partridge stool would collapse. His farmland work was ground-breaking because previous conservation thinking concentrated on pristine habitats, not man-made ones. Dick Potts in Sussex, © Charlie Pye-Smith Dick became The Game Conservancy’s Director of Research in 1977.

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