Distribution and conservation status of the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax in the Iberian Peninsula

Full article

Published:

Volume 43(2), December 1996. Pages 157-167.

Language:

English

Keywords:

abundance, conservation, distribution, Iberian Peninsula, Tetrax tetrax.

Abstract:

This paper is a compilation of data about the distribution and relative abundance of the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax in the Iberian Peninsula, from a conservation point of view. Besides a comprehensive literature review, indices of relative abundance in 36 localities and absolute densities of breeding males in another 10 localities are presented. A detailed distribution map of the Little Bustard in the Iberian Peninsula is presented for the first time. Its population status differs considerably among regions: in the Southern Meseta, Extremadura and Alentejo the distribution is practically continuous, showing high densities (a guess of 170,000 breeding males is provisionally advanced for the Southern Meseta and Extremadura); whereas in the northern half of the Peninsula and most of Andalucía it is present in small areas and usually at very low densities, apparently having experienced important decreases. Increasing agricultural intensification seems to be responsible for the decline of the Little Bustard in the Iberian Peninsula, its main global stronghold.