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We studied the habitat preferences of Eurasian scops-owls in a semi-arid Mediterranean region undergoing large-scale habitat alteration. Generalized linear models were used to examine patterns of habitat preference at three different spatial scales: core area, home range and landscape, comparing the habitat composition around occupied and unoccupied territories. At the core area scale, owls occupied dry land tree plantations, ephemeral rivers (ramblas) and riverine forests. At the home range and landscape scales, they preferred dry land tree plantations and ramblas, the model stressing the importance of the borders between them. The length of paved roads and the presence of conspecific neighbours were also significant variables in the landscape scale model.

During the study period, the population declined by 52.4%. Territory desertion was probably prompted by the increasing use of dry land plantations, ramblas and riverine forests as building land. Environmental impact studies and assessments continue to disregard the potential of agro-landscape elements for regulating hydrological flows and for hosting fauna. The present study adds to a growing number of papers revealing the importance of traditional agro-landscapes in southeastern Spain, despite whose findings, no long-term, spatially explicit measures have been proposed by environmental authorities. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.