The contribution of non‐protected areas to the conservation of Eurasian Eagle‐owls in Mediterranean ecosystems

• Published in: Ecosphere
• Main Authors: León‐Ortega, Mario, Martínez, José E., Pérez, Eloy, Lacalle, José A., Calvo, José F.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2017
• Subjects: eurasian eagle-owl
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1952; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fecs2.1952; https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.1952

Abstract Land‐use management, human impacts, and wildlife population processes taking place outside protected areas may affect the conservation of species within protected areas. While many studies have evaluated the effectiveness of protected areas for conserving biodiversity, the contribution of non‐protected areas in this respect has seldom been assessed. Here, we assess the suitability of non‐protected areas for a Eurasian Eagle‐owl population using long‐term monitoring data of 127 territories, together with survival and home range data from 30 radio‐tracked individuals, in order to investigate whether the demographic parameters estimated and home range size differed inside and outside protected areas. The results showed that the number of breeding territories was higher inside the protected areas and that the average home range was significantly smaller for individuals nesting inside the protected areas. However, no significant differences in survival or in the breeding performance were observed between individuals nesting in territories inside and outside the protected areas. We conclude that although protected areas are effective for maintaining breeding populations of Eurasian Eagle‐owls and their size can be considered sufficient to offer suitable protection of the foraging habitat, non‐protected areas also deliver positive outcomes for these populations.