Productivity (offspring production) is a key demographic parameter influencing population dynamics, particularly in r-strategy species, and thus critical for implementing well-based management of populations. Accordingly, the study of factors influencing productivity is useful to develop management strategies in species of conservation concern or subject to exploitation. We studied productivity (covey size and young/adult ratio) of red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) in Spain through a large-scale sampling in Andalucia and Castilla-La Mancha, two large areas in central-southern Spain, the core of the distribution of the species. We evaluated potential environmental factors related with productivity that have been considered important in previous local studies (weather, land use, and intensity of releases of farm-reared partridges), using a dataset of 15,357 observations of partridges over three breeding seasons (2010, 2011, and 2012). Average productivity at the end of July was 3 young/adult, indicating 50% chick mortality between hatching and fledging and high breeding failure. We found marked effects of weather, year, and land use on partridge productivity, confirming some previous results at local scale and supporting widespread and simultaneous effects of these factors. We also detected a large-scale negative relationship with farm-bred partridge release intensities, with lower young/adult ratios in areas with high release intensity. This suggests that partridge releases may be contributing to the decline of wild populations. Our results support that correcting the effects of agricultural intensification is the main key to the long-term conservation of the species and suggest that, in dry spring years (leading to low average productivity), many populations could be exposed to overhunting. These results stress the importance of both small- and large-scale adjustments of hunting pressure to partridge productivity, in order to preserve wild populations. Poor hunting bags in “bad” years, along with the increasing demand in the hunting market, may have stimulated the widespread use of releases, further reducing productivity and leading to the current compromised conservation status of wild populations. We discuss some potential solutions to this conflicting situation from the socioeconomic and environmental points of view.

生产力（后代生产）是影响人口动态的关键人口统计参数，特别是在r策略物种中，因此对于实施基础良好的人口管理至关重要。因此，对影响生产力的因素的研究对于制定保护性物种或受开发物种的管理策略很有用。我们研究了红脚part（Alectoris rufa）的生产力（繁殖力大小和年轻人/成年比））通过在西班牙中南部两个大区域Andalucia和Castilla-La Mancha进行大规模采样，成为该物种分布的核心。我们使用三个繁殖季节（2010年，2011年）的15357份观测值数据集，评估了先前在本地研究中认为重要的与生产力相关的潜在环境因素（天气，土地利用和农场饲养的release释放强度）。 ，和2012年）。7月底的平均生产率为3头成年鸡/成年鸡，表明在孵化和出雏之间以及高繁殖失败率之间的小鸡死亡率为50％。我们发现天气，年份和土地使用对part生产力的显着影响，证实了先前在当地范围内取得的一些结果，并支持了这些因素的广泛而同时的影响。我们还发现与农场饲养的ridge的释放强度存在较大的负相关，在高释放强度的地区，年轻人/成年人的比率较低。这表明part的释放可能是导致野生种群减少的原因。我们的结果支持纠正农业集约化的影响是长期保护该物种的主要关键，并表明在干旱的春季（导致平均生产力低下），许多种群可能遭受过度捕捞。这些结果强调了对狩猎压力进行小规模和大规模调整以提高ridge生产力的重要性，以保护野生种群。在“糟糕”的年份中，较差的狩猎袋以及狩猎市场的需求不断增长，可能刺激了释放物的广泛使用，进一步降低了生产力，导致目前野生种群的保护状况受损。我们从社会经济和环境的角度讨论了这种冲突情况的一些潜在解决方案。