BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION OF BIRDS OF PREY

Postnatal dispersion of the Barn Owl (Tyto alba): monitoring breeding success; increase of nest sites availability (installation of nest boxes); factors influencing postnatal dispersion.

Predatory interactions among top predators–intraguild predation and superpredation: key factors in superpredation; the influence of the predatory risk in the intraguild preys behaviour; consequences for superpredators consumption of mesopredators.

Ecotoxicology in top predators: bio-magnification of heavy metals in birds of prey; the influence of food habits in mercury bio-magnification process.

Road effects in owls: mortality key factors; effects of roads in bird abundances; the role of roads in landscape fragmentation; the influence of roads in habitat selection and connectivity.

Publications

Lourenço R, Penteriani V, Delgado MM, Marchi-Bartolozzi M, Rabaça JE 2011. Kill before being killed: an experimental approach supports the predator-removal hypothesis as a determinant of intraguild predation in top predators. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 65: 1709-1714. DOI:10.1007/s00265-011-1178-2
Lourenço R, Santos SM, Rabaça JE Penteriani V 2011. Superpredation patterns in four large European raptors. Population Ecology 53:175-185. DOI:10.1007/s10144-010-0199-4
Lourenço R, Tavares PC, Delgado MM, Rabaça JE, Penteriani V 2011. Superpredation increases mercury levels in a generalist top predator, the eagle owl. Ecotoxicology 20:635-642. DOI:10.1007/s10646-011-0603-7
Pereira M, Lourenço R, Mira A 2011. The role of habitat connectivity on road mortality of tawny owls. GeoFocus 11:70-90. ISSN:1578-5157.
Sousa J, Reto D, Filipe J, Leitão I, Grilo C, Ascensão F, Lourenço R, Marques A, Ferreira D, Santos-Reis M 2009 How do major roads affect barn owls? Distribution, space use, food source and mortality. In Wagner, PJ, Nelson D, Murray E (eds) Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation. Raleigh, NC: Center for Transportation and the Environment, North Carolina State University, 2010. Pp. 407-417. http://www.icoet.net/ICOET_2009/09proceedings.asp
Rabaça JE, Lourenço R, Tomé R, Roque I 2010. Censusing at darkness: the launch of a monitoring scheme of Owls and Nightjars in Portugal. In Bermejo, A (Ed.) Bird Numbers 2010 “Monitoring, indicators and targets”. Book of abstracts of the 18th Conference of the European Bird Census Council. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid. Pp: 89-90.
Roque I, Rabaça JE. Tomé R 2007. A Barn Owls’ assembly: plenty of food but no bed included. World Owl Conference, Groningen.
Roque I, Rabaça JE Tomé R 2007. Ecological requirements of an owl community in a montado ecosystem in Central Portugal. World Owl Conference, Groningen.
Lourenço R 2006. The food habits of Eurasian Eagle-Owls in Southern Portugal. Journal of Raptor Research 40: 297-300. DOI: 10.3356/0892-1016(2006)40[297:TFHOEE]2.0.CO;2