Age and Sex Ratios in a High-Density Wild Red-Legged Partridge Population

Nadal, Jesús; Ponz, Carolina; Margalida, Antoni (2016). Age and Sex Ratios in a High-Density Wild Red-Legged Partridge Population. PLoS ONE, 11(8), e0159765. Public Library of Science 10.1371/journal.pone.0159765

Preview

Text Nadal_PLoSONE2016.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY). Download (371kB) | Preview

The dynamics of a wild red-legged partridge population were examined over a 14-year period in Spain to identify patterns in age and sex ratios in relation to weather parameters, and to assess the importance of these parameters in population dynamics and management. The results gave age ratios of 1.07 (but 2.13 in July counts), juvenile sex ratios of 1.01 and adult sex ratios of 1.47. Overall, 12% more females were hatched and female juvenile mortality was 7.3% higher than in males. Sex differential mortality explains the 19.2% deficit in adult females, which are more heavily predated than males during the breeding
period. Accordingly, age ratios are dependent on sex ratios and both are density dependent. Over time, ratios and density changes appear to be influenced by weather and management. When the habitat is well conserved, partridge population dynamics can be explained by a causal chain: weather operates on net primary production, thereby affecting partridge reproduction and predation and, as a result, age and sex ratios in the October population. A reduction in the impact of predation (i.e. the effects of ground predators on eggs, chicks and breeding females) is the key factor to improve the conservation of partridge populations and associated biological processes.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

263 since deposited on 02 Feb 2017
12 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item