1 TITLE 2 The European Turtle Dove in the ecotone between woodland and farmland: multi-scale 3 habitat associations and implications for the design of management interventions 4 5 AUTHORS 6 Carles Carboneras1,2*, Lara Moreno-Zarate1, Beatriz Arroyo1 7 8 AUTHORS’ AFFILIATIONS 9 1 – Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC) (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ciudad 10 Real, Spain 11 2 – RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, Sandy, United Kingdom 12 * – corresponding author:
[email protected] 13 14 15 ABSTRACT 16 The European Turtle Dove (turtle dove) is globally threatened after undergoing a sustained 17 and generalised decline across its breeding range, with habitat loss suggested as the main 18 driver. Here, we review the scientific literature on habitat associations across its European 19 breeding range, in relation to distribution, breeding numbers, nesting substrates, food and 20 foraging habitats, to identify optimal habitat management measures. Large-scale (national) 21 distribution seemed related to the availability, but not dominance, of forest; abundance was 22 generally higher in woodland than on farmland. However, abundance in woodland 23 increased with additional structural diversity and proximity to farmland, and abundance on 24 farmland increased with greater availability of non-farmland features. Nesting occurred 25 most frequently on trees (secondarily on bushes) but we found geographical differences in 26 the type of nesting substrate, with thorny bushes being used more frequently in the north, 27 and open canopy trees in the south. Turtle doves fed on a wide spectrum of seeds with a 28 predominance of wild, particularly early-flowering, plants; but we could not identify a single 29 plant species whose abundance determined turtle dove numbers.