Red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) populations have significantly declined in the Iberian Peninsula (by > 50% between 1973 and 2002). This decline has been attributed to the drastic changes that have occurred in traditional agricultural landscapes, among other factors. This paper assesses the relationship between landscape change and the changes in areas favourable to partridges. The areas favourable to partridges in Andalusia (southern Spain), and the environmental and land-use factors that determined these areas, were identified for both the 1960s and the 1990s. Land-use changes were analysed both throughout the study area and for areas where favourability for partridges has either improved or worsened during recent decades. Both the location and the factors determining areas favourable to red-legged partridges have changed substantially over recent decades. In the 1960s, areas favourable to partridges were associated mainly with natural vegetation in mountainous areas, whereas, by the 1990s, favourable areas were associated with large low-lying croplands; such change may be attributable to regional land-use changes. The percentage area of the main natural vegetation variables positively correlated to partridge favourability in the 1960s model (mainly pastures and open scrubland) had decreased in areas that had become unfavourable to the species (such as mountain areas), and risen where partridge favourability increased. By the 1990s, the land area favourable to partridges had decreased by c. 10% (c. 6000 km2) in southern Spain, whereas land use unfavourable to partridges markedly increased (> 100%; an increase of c. 3000 km2). Landscape suitable for partridges has thus become severely impoverished over recent decades in the Iberian Peninsula. Management measures aimed at improving the landscape for farmland birds should be encouraged to conserve red-legged partridge populations in southern Spain.

European agricultural landscapes hold important endangered and game species, which may add socioeconomical and ecological value to the ecosystem, and thus must be considered priority species in any management programme integrating agriculture, hunting and conservation. Patterns of red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) nesting habitat selection and nesting success provide information for the implementation of these kinds of programmes in agrarian pseudosteppes. Nests occur mainly in cereal grain fields, although this habitat type was overall negatively selected and had the lowest nesting success. Only lindes (herbaceous strips among fields) were positively selected, and were also the habitat type with the highest nesting success. Nests within cereal grain fields were positively selected close to the field margins (mostly < 5 m). Agricultural practices, particularly harvesting, were the main cause of nest failure. Changes in agricultural practices would be a more effective means of increasing nesting success than predator control. Partridge breeding success may be improved by better management of agricultural areas, increasing the availability of lindes and slightly delaying cereal harvesting. These data may have implications for other endangered steppe-birds with similar nesting habitat, and may provide the basis for effective and successful collaborative programmes between hunters and conservationists.

The study of host-parasite relationships usually requires reliable estimates of parasite intensity, which is often estimated from parasite propagule concentration in faeces. However, parasite excretion in faeces may be subject to variation due to endogenous or exogenous factors that must be identified to obtain reliable results. We analysed the effect of the hour of sample collection on propagule counts of 2 intestinal parasites infecting the red-legged partridge: the capillarid nematode Aonchoteca caudinflata and coccidia of the genus Eimeria (Protozoa). Also, we test whether there are differences in propagule counts between caecal and intestinal faeces. Individual faecal samples from infected birds were collected daily at 4 different hours during several days. The hour of the day exerted a very strong effect on propagule counts, excretion of both types of parasites showing a clear and constant increase from dawn to dusk. Also, capillarid eggs were more abundant in intestinal than in caecal faeces, whereas the inverse pattern was found for coccidian oocysts. Standardization of the hour of sample collection or statistical control of this variable is recommendable to prevent bias. Similarly, in bird species with long caeca, consistent collection of one type of faeces may avoid significant errors in parasite burden estimates.