https://doi.org/10.4081/rio.2023.633

Ecology and distribution of the European Roller Coracias garrulus in a recently recolonized area of Northern Italy

Vol. 93 No. 1 (2023)
Submitted: 28 May 2022
Accepted: 25 May 2023
Published: 6 June 2023
European roller, Alessandria, breeding, Piedmont, ecology, distribution, habitat fragmentation
Abstract Views: 1976
PDF: 477
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

Alessandro Ghiggi
aleghiggi88@gmail.com
Sant’Ilario, Genova, Italy.

This study reports the first data on the ecology and distribution patterns of a population of Eurasian Roller Coracias garrulus breeding in the province of Alessandria in northwestern Italy. The research was conducted between 2017 and 2021. 13 pairs were found, 12 of which were confirmed to be breeding. The species primarily chose to nest in natural cavities in White poplar Populus alba, with nesting observed to a lesser extent in Black poplar Populus nigra, Turkey Oak Quercus cerris and in one case sandy river banks. The home range of each pair is mostly within pluriannual stable meadows and arable crops; on average it extends over 0,92 km2 with values that seems to oscillate according to the degree of fragmentation and isolation of patches of stable meadows: this can be explained by the lower availability of arthropods (consisting mostly of Orthoptera) found in mosaics of alternating meadows interspersed with annual crops. In such conditions, a low density of pairs was observed, along with an increase in territorial boundaries and greater distance between the nests. In the sectors characterised by large, multi-annual stable meadows, with more diverse and abundant entomofauna, supporting a higher number of breeding pairs, a significant contraction of home ranges is observed, with an increased concentration of nesting sites, and higher intraspecific tolerance. Between 2019 and 2021 a total of 17 artificial nest boxes were installed, 3 of which have been successfully occupied. Given the continuous anthropogenic transformation these territories are regularly facing, sometimes subtracting potential nesting or feeding sites due to crop rotation, coppicing, ex-novo construction of ground solar panel systems on agricultural land, etc., in order to protect and conserve this population of European Roller, it is desirable to put in place a greater number of artificial nest structures together with monitoring aimed at protecting the biodiversity of the territory.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

PlumX Metrics

PlumX Metrics provide insights into the ways people interact with individual pieces of research output (articles, conference proceedings, book chapters, and many more) in the online environment. Collectively known as PlumX Metrics, these metrics are divided into five categories to help make sense of the huge amounts of data involved and to enable analysis by comparing like with like.

Andrén H., 1994 – Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds and mammals in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat: a review. Oikos, 71 (3): 355-366. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3545823
Arslan N. S. & Arslan G., 2019 – Habitat and Nest Site Selection of the European Rollers in the Northern Anatolia. KSÜ Tarım ve Doğa Derg, 22 (5): 794-798. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18016/ksutarimdoga.vi.544764
Avilés J. M. & Costillo E., 1998 – Selection of breeding habitats by the Roller (Coracias garrulous) in farming areas of the southwestern Iberian peninsula. Die Vogelwarte, 39: 242-247.
Baghino L., Lovato G. & Gustin M., 2006 – Ecologia e distribuzione del Codirossone Monticola saxatilis, nidificante in un’area del Parco Naturale del Beigua. Rivista italiana di ornitologia, Milano, 76 (2): 97-106.
Bagnouls F. & Gaussen H., 1957 – Les climats biologiques et leurs classifications. Annales de Géographie, 66: 193-220. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/geo.1957.18273
Brichetti P. & Fracasso G., 2007 – Ornitologia Italiana. Vol. 4 Apodidae - Prunellidae. Alberto Perdisa Editore, Bologna.
Camerano P., Grieco C., Terzuolo P. G. (a cura di), 2010 – I boschi planiziali. Conoscenza, conservazione e valorizzazione. Regione Piemonte e Blu Edizioni, Torino.
Cannarella S., Dell’Omo G., Monti F., Catoni C., 2019 – GPS tracking of European rollers Coracias garrulus breeding in Central Italy. XX Convegno italiano di ornitologia, Napoli.
Collinge S. K., 2000 – Effects of Grassland Fragmentation on Insect Species Loss, Colonization, and Movement Patterns. Ecology, 81 (8): 2211-2226. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2000)081[2211:EOGFOI]2.0.CO;2
Duarte A., 2014 – Using open source tools for characterization of a landscape. The LecosS plugin. <https://qgis.org/zh-Hant/site/about/case_studies/portugal_coimbra.html>
Finch T., 2016 – Conservation ecology of the European Roller Coracias garrulus. Doctoral thesis. University of East Anglia.
Flowers B., Huang K. T. & Aldana G. O., 2020 – Analysis of the Habitat Fragmentation of Ecosystems in Belize Using Landscape Metrics. Sustainability, 12 (7): 3024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12073024
Gatti F., 2008 – Nidificazione di Ghiandaia marina Coracias garrulus, in Piemonte. Rivista italiana di Ornitologia, Milano, 78 (1): 54-56.
Ghiggi A., 2016 – Nidificazione di Ghiandaia marina Coracias garrulus nel Comune di Sezzadio (AL). Picus, 43 (84): 105-107.
Gobbi M. & Latella L., 2011 – La fauna dei prati - 1: tassonomia, ecologia e metodi di studio dei principali gruppi di invertebrati terrestri italiani. Quaderni del Museo delle Scienze, Trento, 4/1.
Goerge T. L. & Dobkin D. S., 2002 – Effects of Habitat fragmentation on birds in western landscapes: Contrasts with paradigms from the Eastern United States. Studies in Avian Biology, 25.
GPSO (Fasano S. G., Alessandria G., Assandri G., Caprio E. & Pavia M., red.), 2017 – Resoconto ornitologico per la regione Piemonte - Valle d’Aosta. Anno 2014. Tichodroma, 4: 1-71.
Jung M., 2016 – LecoS. A python plugin for automated landscape ecology analysis. Ecological Informatics, 31: 18-21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2015.11.006
Kosciuch K., Riser-Espinoza D., Gerringer M. & Erickson W., 2020 – A summary of bird mortality at photovoltaic utility scale solar facilities in the Southwestern U.S. PLoS ONE, 15 (4): e0232034. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232034
Kovacs A., Barov B., Orhun C. & Gallo-Orsi U., 2008 – International Species Action Plan for the European Roller Coracias garrulus garrulus. Birdlife International.
Lammerant L., Laureysens I. & Driesen K., 2020 – Potential impacts of solar, geothermal and ocean energy on habitats and species protected under the Birds and Habitats Directives. Final report under EC Contract ENV.D.3/SER/2017/0002 Project: “Reviewing and mitigating the impacts of renewable energy developments on habitats and species protected under the Birds and Habitats Directives”. Arcadis Belgium, Institute for European Environmental Policy, BirdLife International, NIRAS, Stella Consulting, Ecosystems Ltd, Brussels.
Legge 27 aprile 2022, n. 34 - Conversione in legge, con modificazioni, del decreto-legge 1° marzo 2022, n. 17, recante misure urgenti per il contenimento dei costi dell’energia elettrica e del gas naturale, per lo sviluppo delle energie rinnovabili e per il rilancio delle politiche industriali.
Monti F., Nelli L., Catoni C. & Dell’Omo G., 2019 – Nest box selection and reproduction of European Rollers in Central Italy: a 7-year study. Avian Research, 10, 13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-019-0150-0
Premuda G., Bedonni B. & Ballanti F., 2011 – Nidi artificiali. Edagricole - IlSole24Ore, Bologna.
Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing rules for direct payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 637/2008 and Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009.
Rondinini C., Battistoni A., Peronace V., Teofili C., 2013 – Lista Rossa IUCN dei Vertebrati Italiani. Comitato Italiano IUCN e Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare, Roma.
Rubatto F., 1937 – Notizie riguardanti gli uccelli della zona Chierese (Piemonte) nell’anno 1937. Rivista italiana di Ornitologia, Milano, 7 (4): 297-298.
Rutledge D. T., 2003 – Landscape indices as measures of the effects of fragmentation: can pattern reflect process? Doc Science International Series 98. Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand.
Silvano F., 2010 – Nidificazione di Ghiandaia marina Coracias garrulus nell’Alessandrino. Il naturalista, Stazzano (AL), 24: 4-5.
Tiefenbach M., 2009 – Habitat selection in foraging European Rollers Coracias garrulus in Eastern Austria. University of Vienna, Department of Population Ecology, Faculty of Life Sciences.

How to Cite

Ghiggi, A. (2023). Ecology and distribution of the European Roller <i>Coracias garrulus</i> in a recently recolonized area of Northern Italy. Rivista Italiana Di Ornitologia, 93(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/rio.2023.633
Copyright (c) 2023 Alessandro Ghiggi Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.


Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.