Miguel Delibes-Mateos

This project aims to generate, through a multidisciplinary approach, scientific knowledge that contributes to the sustainable management of declining natural resources in agroforestry systems. Hunting is one of these activities that make use of natural resources, and it is practiced across most of the agroforestry systems in Europe. Therefore, in these systems, benefits and costs associated with hunting can have profound ecological and socioeconomic implications. The generation of an important economic activity, especially in rural areas, and the management and conservation of agroforestry landscapes of undeniable value are among the most positive aspects of hunting. In contrast, an excessive hunting pressure can have very harmful effects on game species. In fact, overhunting is cited often as a cause or an aggravating factor of the population declines of most small-game species in Europe. The main goals of this project are: 1) to identify the most effective strategies for the successful management of agroforestry game species whose populations are in decline, and 2) to find those management scenarios that are more accepted socially. Therefore, this proposal combines methodologies of the natural and social sciences, which is an innovative and pioneer approach in Spain.

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This project is focussed on the turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur), whose populations have fallen dramatically over the past decades in most European countries, including Spain, which holds not only an important breeding population, but also birds from other countries during the autumn migration. The concern about the regressive trends of this species has led the European Commission to discuss recently about management actions directed to the recovery of natural populations, including the potential application of a hunting moratorium. This project intends to contribute to this debate by providing scientific knowledge about suitable breeding habitats, both at local and regional scales, and about landscape factors that determine a higher survival in agroforestry systems. A better understanding of the relationship between species abundance and habitat management, of key population parameters (productivity and survival) and how these vary spatially, will be essential to design management interventions at different spatial scales that contribute to the species recovery. In addition, we will assess the social acceptance of these habitat management actions and of different scenarios of hunting pressure regulation aimed at reducing turtle dove mortality. Globally, we will evaluate how hunters, farmers, conservationists and the general public perceive the role of game management in the population recovery of declining species like the turtle dove. Also, we will analyse if these collectives consider that this type of management is more legitimate to reduce the numbers of overabundant game species, such as ungulates, which cause damage to human interests. In other words, this project will try to identify potential costs or benefits that, in the view of different social groups, hunting can provide to the sustainable use of agroforestry systems.