Passive acoustic survey reveals the abundance of a low-density predator and its dependency on mature forests

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F23%3A10468217" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/23:10468217 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=rbXzIkXb5j" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=rbXzIkXb5j</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10980-023-01667-1" target="_blank" >10.1007/s10980-023-01667-1</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Passive acoustic survey reveals the abundance of a low-density predator and its dependency on mature forests

Original language description

ContextEven though habitat use is essential information for conservation management strategies, studying it in elusive and scarce forest species has proven challenging. Passive acoustic monitoring allows collecting accurate presence-absence data even for species that typically exhibit low detectability. It further provides tools for long-term and cost-effective biodiversity monitoring, and may also be used to infer population estimates at the landscape level.ObjectivesWe aimed to demonstrate the application of passive acoustic monitoring to the problem of detecting elusive species, especially in forests, using the Eurasian pygmy owl as a model species. We explored its habitat selection, and estimated occupancy and density at the landscape level in the managed boreal forest.MethodsWe conducted a wide-scale autonomous recording units (ARUs) survey, involving 292 sites in a single season, in a study area covering approx. 370 km(2) in south-western Finland. We clustered the detections into territories of males to infer population size by also taking into account the size of home ranges derived from GPS-tags data. Since we were simultaneously monitoring the occupancy of a network of nest boxes and previously estimated the abundance of natural cavities, we could also estimate the proportion of pygmy owls nesting in natural cavities.ResultsIncreasing availability of mature forests was consistently the most critical habitat variable both for calling and nesting sites, increasing occupancy probability of the pygmy owls in a landscape dominated by managed forests. The proportion of sites showing occupancy by the pygmy owls was 20.9%, corresponding to an estimate of ca. Six territorial males/100 km(2).ConclusionOur results confirmed that the pygmy owl can be considered a species of mature and old forests, and we provide the first data-based estimate of the total density of territorial males of this species. Passive acoustic monitoring proved to be an efficient method in detecting the presence of pygmy owls, and may overcome weaknesses of other methods, such as nest box surveys, in order to quantify population numbers.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10511 - Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)

Project

<a href="/en/project/EF19_074%2F0016231" target="_blank" >EF19_074/0016231: International mobility of researchers at Charles University (MSCA-IF III)</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)<br>I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Landscape Ecology

ISSN

0921-2973

e-ISSN

1572-9761

Volume of the periodical

38

Issue of the periodical within the volume

8

Country of publishing house

NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

Number of pages

16

Pages from-to

1939-1954

UT code for WoS article

000980858400001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85158096629