New data on mortality, home range, and dispersal of red-legged partridges () released in a mountain range

Jesús Duarte (1, 2) , Miguel Ángel Farfán (1) , J. Mario Vargas (1)

1 Biogea Consultores
2 Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias

We tested the success, dispersal, and home range of 20 radio-tagged farm-reared red-legged partridges that were released into typical Mediterranean scrubland on a coastal mountain in southern Spain. Partridges were kept in two acclimatization pens separated by 1 km for 4 weeks. Mortality was 25% during the first 10 days, 51.9% at the end of the second month, and stopped by the 14th week after release. The overall survival rate was 20.6%. Mean dispersal distance was 832 m; home range (MPC 95%), 16.6 ha; and activity centers (Kernel 60%), 15.1 ha. Two released females paired with wild males and one of them successfully nested.

Mots clés: Partridge; Restocking action; Success; Survival; Territory size

Jesús Duarte, Miguel Ángel Farfán, J. Mario Vargas. New data on mortality, home range, and dispersal of red-legged partridges () released in a mountain range. European Journal of Wildlife Research, 2010, pp.675-678. ⟨10.1007/s10344-010-0467-9⟩. ⟨hal-00639778⟩