Enduring the heat: The microclimate characteristics that determine site suitability for an endangered grassland bird during post-breeding

Zalewska, Karolina, Ramos, Rita, Catry, Inês, Gilroy, James J., Silva, João P. and Franco, Aldina M. A. (2026) Enduring the heat: The microclimate characteristics that determine site suitability for an endangered grassland bird during post-breeding. Biological Conservation, 313. ISSN 0006-3207

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Abstract

Environmental changes, including habitat loss and fragmentation in combination with climate change, have increased population reliance on protected areas (PAs) while also requiring individuals to adapt to changing local conditions or search for refugia when conditions deteriorate. Microclimate refugia within PAs may be critical for allowing species to persist when exposed to extreme thermal conditions, yet the availability of microclimate refugia and the ability of PAs to protect species from extremes has rarely been considered. We GPS-tracked 47 little bustards (Tetrax tetrax) in the Iberian Peninsula in 2009–2019, to understand their micro-scale climate and habitat use in the warmest period of the year, the post-breeding season. We compared post-breeding conditions at locations used in that period with those not used after breeding. We found that increasing temperature may reduce site suitability, while sites with greater microclimate refugia availability were more likely to be used by little bustards post-breeding. Although dispersed shrubs may provide micro-refugia, dense shrubby patches were avoided. While almost 63 % of the breeding locations were in PAs, only under 7 % of all post-breeding locations were within these key conservation areas, showing this species is not well protected across its life cycle. We assessed the impact of expected increasing temperatures from climate change scenarios and found that up to 15 % of currently used locations are predicted to become unsuitable, including those falling within PAs. Habitat management strategies should maintain landscapes with diverse characteristics that may provide shelter from extreme temperatures, such as scarce patches of low-density shrubs.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data information: This study was prepared using a number of publicly available datasets. Land use information was obtained from the European Union's Copernicus Land Monitoring Service information (2012: https://doi.org/10.2909/a84ae124-c5c5-4577-8e10-511bfe55cc0d and 2018: https://doi.org/10.2909/960998c1-1870-4e82-8051-6485205ebbac; 2012-2018 land cover change https://doi.org/10.2909/5654b422-af84-4115-ac3c-5d7dea540ebb), digital elevation model (DEM) from Amazon Web Services (Terrain Tiles - Registry of Open Data on AWS https://registry.opendata.aws/terrain-tiles/), little bustard species distribution polygons from BirdLife International (Handbook of the Birds of the World. Bird species distribution maps of the world. Version 2021.1. Available at http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/requestdis), and polygons of protected areas were obtained from EEA Natura 2000 (Available at: https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/datahub/datahubitem-view/6fc8ad2d-195d-40f4-bdec-576e7d1268e4). Data availability: The tracking data used in this study is available in the Movebank Data Repository (Little Bustard movement ecology; study IDs: 56464697, 20047912, 56464970, 253940991, 461568973). Funding information: This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and the ARIES Doctoral Training Partnership (grant number NE/S007334/1) and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT; grants SFRH/BD/14889/2019 and UID/00329/2025).
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Biology Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	22 Oct 2025 08:30
Last Modified:	26 Oct 2025 07:33
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100734
DOI:	10.1016/j.biocon.2025.111557

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