Large-scale conversion of uncultivated land to agriculture threatens wildlife and can diminish ecosystem services provided by nature. Understanding how wildlife provision ecosystem services may incentivize wildlife conservation in agricultural landscapes. Attracting Barn Owls (Tyto furcata) to nest on farms for pest management has been implemented worldwide but has not been evaluated in vineyard agroecosystems. Napa Valley, California, is a renowned winegrape growing region, and viticulturists encourage Barn Owl occupancy to help minimize damage from Botta’s pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae) and voles (Microtus spp.). This study modeled the use of habitats in space and time by hunting Barn Owls, providing information about their potential to provide the critical ecosystem service of pest consumption. We used global positioning system tags to track hunting owls and used a resource selection function to compare used and available habitats. We constructed the intensity of use and home range-movement maps using a time local convex hull analysis from location data. We found that Barn Owls selected uncultivated habitats when hunting, some of which were relatively rare on the landscape. Approximately, one-third of Barn Owl hunting locations occurred in vineyards, but this use was out of proportion to the availability of vineyards, which comprised 50% of the area around nest boxes. The owls’ use of vineyards increased with decreasing amount of selected uncultivated habitat in the landscape. However, as reported by a previous study, the occupancy of nest boxes in vineyards increases with uncultivated habitats nearby. Future research should model landscape composition to determine the amount of preferred habitat necessary to support occupancy as well as hunting in vineyards. A true test of pest management by Barn Owls awaits experimentation coupled with monitoring rodent populations.

中文翻译：

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谷仓猫头鹰在加利福尼亚的葡萄种植区选择未开垦的栖息地进行狩猎

将未开垦的土地大规模转变为农业会威胁到野生动物，并会削弱大自然提供的生态系统服务。了解野生动物提供生态系统服务如何激励农业景观中的野生动物保护。吸引谷仓猫头鹰（Tyto furcata）在农场筑巢以进行害虫管理已在世界范围内实施，但尚未在葡萄园农业生态系统中进行评估。加利福尼亚州的纳帕谷是著名的葡萄种植区，葡萄种植者鼓励谷仓猫头鹰入住，以帮助最大限度地减少博塔袋鼠 (Thomomys bottae) 和田鼠 (Microtus spp.) 造成的损害。这项研究通过狩猎谷仓猫头鹰模拟了时空栖息地的使用，提供了有关它们提供害虫消耗的关键生态系统服务潜力的信息。我们使用全球定位系统标签来跟踪狩猎猫头鹰，并使用资源选择功能来比较已使用和可用的栖息地。我们使用来自位置数据的时间局部凸包分析构建了使用强度和家庭范围移动地图。我们发现谷仓猫头鹰在狩猎时选择了未开垦的栖息地，其中一些在景观中相对罕见。大约三分之一的谷仓猫头鹰狩猎地点发生在葡萄园中，但这种使用与葡萄园的可用性不成比例，葡萄园占巢箱周围面积的 50%。随着景观中选定的未开垦栖息地数量的减少，猫头鹰对葡萄园的使用增加。然而，正如之前的一项研究报告的那样，葡萄园中巢箱的占用率随着附近未开垦的栖息地而增加。未来的研究应该模拟景观组成，以确定支持入住和在葡萄园狩猎所需的首选栖息地数量。谷仓猫头鹰对害虫管理的真正测试等待实验以及监测啮齿动物种群。