Do Habitat Measures Affect European Turtle Dove Abundance Trends? A Case Study from Hunting Grounds in Spain

The European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) has undergone a marked decline across Europe, with habitat degradation considered an important driver. We examined whether different habitat-management strategies were associated with temporal changes in its relative abundance during the years 2021–2025 in Spain, coinciding with the hunting moratorium period. We analyzed 185 surveys from 47 hunting grounds in southern and eastern Spain, conducted through walked transects and point counts. Management practices included water and food provision, agricultural measures and forest management. The relative turtle dove abundance increased over the study period, with significantly higher values in 2024 and 2025 than in 2021. Agricultural measures, primarily game crops, were positively associated with turtle dove abundance (mean effect = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.18–2.62), showing a marked abundance increase after three years of implementation. By contrast, water provision and forest management showed no clear effects and food provision was negatively associated with turtle dove abundance (mean effect = 0.57, 95% CI: 0.39–0.84), although the latter association should be interpreted cautiously because food provision was widespread among the study sites. Our findings highlight the potential value of agricultural habitat interventions for conserving and restoring turtle dove populations, supporting their inclusion in adaptive, landscape-scale conservation strategies targeting this formerly declining migratory gamebird.