Scale-dependent habitat associations of a rapidly declining farmland predator, the Little Owl Athene noctua, in contrasting agricultural landscapes

• We investigated habitat associations of rapidly declining Little Owl in Central Europe.
• Habitat associations vary between spatial scales and three study regions.
• Grasslands and rural green spaces are key habitats at the species home range scale.
• Negative associations with woodland and urban habitats occur in specific regions.
• Regional and interregional preferences can be informative in species conservation plans.

During the last half of century, agricultural intensification within European farmlands caused the deprivation of farmland biodiversity, including farmland birds. Since then different conservation measures have been introduced to reverse declining trends of these birds. Yet, variable success of these measures suggests that habitat management requires planning at appropriate spatial scales. In this study, we examine habitat associations of the Little Owl, a rapidly declining farmland bird, within the context of Central European farmland. We collected presence/absence data from three different countries (the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) and examined habitat associations within and between regions at three different spatial scales: nest site, home range and landscape. We show that certain habitat associations are shared across all study regions, namely those involving grasslands and farm buildings that are used for foraging and nesting, respectively. Inter-regional analysis reveals that grasslands, gardens/orchards and farm buildings are most important habitats at small spatial scales, whereas at large spatial scales, the owl is positively associated with open habitats in terms of arable fields. We suggest that conservation planning should take into account both regional and inter-regional aspects of a species’ habitat associations to distinguish between common habitat requirements and local species-environment relationships.