The prestigious scientific journal Behavioral Ecology has chosen as its cover the work carried out by researchers from the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC) and the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the University of Cantabria on the Canary Islands houbara bustard. Specifically, this study describes for the first time the characteristics of the sites selected by male Canary Islands houbara bustards (Chlamydotis undulata fuertaventurae) to perform courtship and maintain wild vegetation in non-cultivated areas to promote the reproduction of this endangered species.
“During the reproductive season, male Canary Islands houbara bustards organize themselves into leks, that is, groups of males in a certain area in which each one is arranged at a certain distance defending a territory. In that territory, which they maintain for years, the males perform courtship to the females, which consists of a series of races in circles arranging the head backwards to exhibit the exuberant white plumage of the chest and neck”, explains Alberto Ucero, researcher at the MNCN and main author of the work.
Using a very high resolution digital elevation model based on LIDAR and a complete census of the breeding population, they analyzed the effects of visibility, the distribution of females and males, the microhabitat and the distance to human infrastructures in the choice of areas for courtship, comparing 98 display sites with 98 randomly generated sites.
The analyses show that males display in places that increase their visibility both at short and long distances, so that from the selected places they can see a larger area of the terrain, both of the immediate environment and of more distant areas.
Ucero points out that “curiously, although the number of females and males around the display and random sites does not differ, from the display sites the males can see more females and males, both in the environment close to the display site and in more distant areas.
At the microhabitat scale, the absence of vegetation and stones is decisive, since it allows males to perform their display runs on a terrain free of obstacles that could cause injuries. The amount of trophic resources does not influence the selection of the display site, although a vegetal cover of bushes is important at a wider habitat scale.
Finally, the display sites are far from sources of human disturbance, such as urban centers, buildings and roads”.
Juan Carlos Alonso, also a researcher at the MNCN and director of the project, assures that “to guarantee adequate protection of the display sites of the Canary Islands houbara bustard, the construction of new roads should be avoided and the restriction of vehicle traffic on some of the existing ones during the breeding season should be considered. In addition, the proliferation of scattered buildings within the houbara habitat should be prohibited and urban expansion controlled.
This would minimize disturbance to males during the breeding season. As for the vegetation, the current vegetal cover of gorse in the main breeding areas of the species should be maintained and some areas should be reserved for the exclusive use of the houbaras, regulating goat grazing in them”.
You can access the full article through the following link: https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arac112
