Natural History of the Little Bustard: Morphology, Biometry, Diet, Sexual Dimorphism, and Social and Breeding Behaviour

Bretagnolle, Vincent; Mañosa, Santi; Morales, Manuel B.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-84902-3_3

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Therefore, either the Russian or Kazakh breeding populations (or both) are currently underestimated. The Little Bustard has been reported in winter in other sites beyond the core areas described above, from Lebanon to Afghanistan and Pakistan (Figure 1), but either in very small numbers or as erratic visitor (Grimmet et al 2009, Morales et al 2021. Adequate research based on telemetry is required to assess and validate these reports.…”

Section: Eastern Rangementioning

confidence: 96%

“…Though not currently recognized, taxonomists formerly considered two different subspecies based on perceived morphological differences (Collar et al 1996). Recent morphological analyses indicate differences between north-eastern and south-western localities of the range (Bretagnolle et al 2021). Moreover, a phylogeographic study using mtDNA samples from France and Iberia found a low but significant level of structure at that geographical scale (Garcı ´a et al 2011), which suggests that a larger-scale study might also find genetic structure.…”

Section: Ongoing Threats For the Little Bustard Worldwidementioning

confidence: 99%

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An update on the conservation status of the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax: global and local population estimates, trends, and threats

Morales

Bretagnolle

2021

Bird Conservation International

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Summary The Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax is an iconic species and an indicator of healthy grassland and farmland ecosystems. It formerly ranged almost continuously from north-western Africa and Iberia to central Asia, encompassing France, Italy, southern Russia, and the Middle East, occupying natural grass steppes, pastured grasslands, and extensive cereal farmland. Today, two main distribution sub-ranges persist: a western one comprising the Iberian Peninsula, France, and Sardinia, and an eastern one encompassing mainly southern Russia and Kazakhstan but reaching north-western China and isolated spots in Turkey. We describe the changes that occurred across the species’ range and were documented during the last and current centuries and revise the status and trends of Little Bustard populations throughout that range. We provide the first global estimate of the world population, as well as those of the two sub-ranges, discussing the main threats and global conservation implications of these estimates. Historically abundant in Europe and northern Africa, the Little Bustard has strongly declined over the second half of the 20th century, becoming extinct in at least 15 countries. Such spectacular regression is mainly associated with land-use change and agricultural intensification. Other threats are legal hunting, poaching, and collision with powerlines. In the last two decades, the species has severely declined (c.6% yearly rate) in its traditional population stronghold, the Iberian Peninsula. Conversely, there is evidence of recent population growth in some areas of the Eastern range, but increases are unquantified and require further study. Many populations are probably small and scattered, with no reliable information on size and trends. Nevertheless, the Eastern range may now be considered the species’ stronghold with more than half the world’s population. The diverging dynamics and ecological differences between the two sub-ranges require a global conservation strategy that treats each as a different conservation unit to assure the species’ recovery.

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Section: Eastern Rangementioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Ongoing Threats For the Little Bustard Worldwidementioning

confidence: 99%

An update on the conservation status of the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax: global and local population estimates, trends, and threats

Morales

Bretagnolle

2021

Bird Conservation International

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“…Irrespective of the species, these encounters usually result in direct interactions, which in most cases consists of the Little Bustard's being flushed. During the daily peak of activity in the display season, Little Bustard males devote most of their time (78%) to vigilance (Bretagnolle et al 2022), indicating that this species has an innate preventive response to the presence of predators based on vigilance and escape. It is difficult to evaluate at this stage the real impact of the reported interactions with the Little Bus- Revista Catalana d'Ornitologia 39:10-20, 2023 tard population in the area.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As female Little Bustards tend to nest and brood within the territories of displaying males (Morales et al 2013), it remains to be seen whether this flushing behaviour is a simple escape reaction or a distraction tactic aimed at protecting nests or chicks from predation. In the case of males, this behaviour would represent parental investment and could change our understanding of the mating system of the Little Bustard (see Bretagnolle et al 2022) the case, the Little Bustard has been shown to be very sensitive to stress derived from other types of disturbances (Tarjuelo et al 2015) and predator disturbance is likely to cause similar stress. Although the estimated cumulative number of interactions resulting in reaction by Little Bustards (considering a 12 daylight hours/day) only reaches an estimated 0.70 interactions per day in the study area, the potential effect might not be negligible.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential effects of avian predators on the behaviour of the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax during the display season in a cereal pseudo-steppe

Mañosa,

Julià,

Oliva

et al. 2024

Revista Catalana d'Ornitologia

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The Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax is an endangered steppe bird whose last remaining breeding populations in Catalonia (NW Spain) are located in the Lleida plains. Although the decline in this population is mainly associated with habitat loss and degradation due to agricultural intensification and urban encroachment, the proliferation of predators, some favoured by hu- mans, may also be having negative effects on this population, either through direct predation or indirect effects on behaviour and survival. Here, we describe the type of behavioural response exhibited by Little Bustards during the display season when they encounter a potential avian predator and discuss the possible indirect effects of these interactions. During counts carried out in the springs of 2010–2022 in three Special Protection Areas in the Lleida plains, 88 encounters between Little Bustards and eight species of avian predators were recorded. Among them, the Western Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus, Montagu’s Harrier C. pygargus and the Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis were the most frequent species involved in these encounters, although only the Yellow-legged Gull conducted deliberate attacks in a consistent way. Irrespective of the predator or its attitude, most encounters resulted in the Little Bustard being flushed. The number of encounters were higher at the beginning of the mating season, which may prevent Little Bustards from settling in otherwise suitable areas of habitat. The flushing of the bustards may increase the risk of collision with power lines and reduce mating success. Since the number of encounters between Yellow-legged Gulls and Little Bustards seems to have increased in recent years in the study area, we believe that there is a need to conduct further studies to understand how these interactions affect the population dynamics and conservation of this endangered species.

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“…SSD is also lower in Houbara Bustards and in other smaller bustard species (e.g. Little Bustards Tetrax tetrax ; Bretagnolle et al , 2022) than in larger species of the family (e.g., male/female weight ratios = 2.48 in Great Bustards Otis tarda , Alonso et al , 2009; 2.32 in Kori Bustards Ardeotis kori during the wet season, T. Osborne, pers. comm.…”

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confidence: 99%

Morphometrics of Houbara Bustards Chlamydotis spp: Sexual Size Dimorphism, Seasonal Changes and Differences between Species

Alonso

Dieuleveut

Palacı́n

et al. 2023

Ardeola

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SummaryThis study presents for the first time morphometric data from large samples of free-living individuals of Chlamydotis bustards (448 MacQueen's Bustards, 288 African Houbaras, and 53 Canarian Houbaras). Linear measurements were largest in MacQueen's Bustards, intermediate in African Houbaras and smallest in Canarian Houbaras, with differences between the largest and smallest species ranging from 4.5% to 13.9%. Male MacQueen's Bustards were also the heaviest (4% and 15.5% heavier than, respectively, African and Canarian Houbara males) but, unexpectedly, there were no significant weight differences among females of the three bustards. Males of the three bustards were significantly larger than females in all linear measurements and weight. These between-species/subspecies differences are consistent with a slight trend to insular dwarfism that probably selects for smaller size in the Canarian subspecies. Males are larger and heavier than females in the three bustards, as expected in polygynous species, suggesting a moderate effect of sexual selection acting on male size. Finally, the slightly higher sexual size dimorphism values observed in wings and tarsi in MacQueen's bustards compared to both subspecies of African Houbaras are in line with the allometric constraint hypothesis.—Alonso, J.C., Dieuleveut, T., Palacín, C., Abril-Colón, I., Ucero, A. & Lucas, C. (2023). Morphometrics of Houbara Bustards Chlamydotis spp: sexual size dimorphism, seasonal changes and differences between species. Ardeola, 70: 235-247.

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Natural History of the Little Bustard: Morphology, Biometry, Diet, Sexual Dimorphism, and Social and Breeding Behaviour

Cited by 5 publications

References 51 publications

An update on the conservation status of the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax: global and local population estimates, trends, and threats

An update on the conservation status of the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax: global and local population estimates, trends, and threats

Potential effects of avian predators on the behaviour of the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax during the display season in a cereal pseudo-steppe

Morphometrics of Houbara Bustards Chlamydotis spp: Sexual Size Dimorphism, Seasonal Changes and Differences between Species

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