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Context Agricultural landscapes across Europe have undergone significant transformation due to intensification and land-use changes, resulting in habitat loss and reduced biodiversity. Simultaneously, climate change has intensified extreme weather events, further exacerbating the decline of sensitive farmland species. Objectives We assessed the effects of habitat composition, weather conditions and their interaction, on the reproductive success of the grey partridge (Perdix perdix ). We aimed to identify factors that hinder successful reproduction and are important for conservation considerations. Our model species is a widespread farmland bird that is particularly sensitive to habitat change and weather. Methods Using open-source data spanning 13 years (2011–2023) across the Czech Republic, a central European country with a highly intensified farmland, we applied generalized linear mixed models to assess the influence of habitat and weather conditions on partridge reproductive success at a landscape scale. Results Mosaics of herb-dominated vegetation, including grasslands and unmanaged wastelands near human settlements, significantly increased the probability of successful breeding of partridges. Conversely, diversity of broad land-use types reduced breeding success. Adverse weather, such as heavy rainfall in May, was also detrimental to the species’ reproduction, however, positive interaction of habitat diversity and rainfall in May suggest their synergistic effect. Conclusions Our results highlight the importance of habitat and weather considerations in conservation strategies for farmland birds. As ongoing climate change is likely to increase the frequency of extreme weather events, improving habitat quality by supporting herbaceous vegetation and promoting agri-environmental measures more widely are essential for the conservation of grey partridges and other sensitive species.

Many farmland birds such as the grey partridge Perdix perdix are experiencing sharp declines across Europe, which can lead to fragmentation and increasing isolation of local populations. Understanding the population dynamics of these local populations is becoming increasingly important for effective conservation efforts. In this study, we used data from grey partridge transect counts with call playback from 2006 to 2023 to investigate the population dynamics of a grey partridge population in central Germany. We employed generalized linear mixed models to model the long‐term meta‐population trend and assessed synchrony between local sub‐populations by calculating the cross‐correlation and the Loreau and de Mazancourt community‐wide synchrony. Additionally, we assessed stability by comparing the extent of yearly fluctuations between sub‐populations and the regional meta‐population by analysing variances. Our analysis revealed that the studied meta‐population remained stable over the course of the study period, despite ongoing declines observed in other regions of Germany. Furthermore, we found that the population dynamics of the sub‐populations were largely asynchronous, and the extent of variance in the sub‐populations was significantly greater than in the meta‐population. The low synchrony between sub‐populations indicates a prevalence of local factors affecting population dynamics, but further research is needed to identify these factors. Our results suggest that asynchrony between sub‐populations may play a role in stabilizing meta‐populations at the landscape level. Based on our results, we argue that large‐scale conservation projects that are able to encompass these population dynamics may help ensure the long‐term persistence of the grey partridge.

The grey partridge (Perdix perdix Linnaeus, 1758), is a polytypic species with seven recognized subspecies, including P. p. italica (Hartert, 1917), which is endemic to Italy. Until World War II, the species was widespread across Europe but severely declined due to anthropogenic causes, jeopardizing the Italian subspecies gene pool. Genetic characterization and haplotype identification were performed by analyzing the 5′-end of the mitochondrial control region (CR). A total of 15 haplotypes were detected, seven of which were present in the population before 1915. Among them, three haplotypes were never detected again in the individuals collected after 1915. Interestingly, eight of the 15 haplotypes detected in Italian museum samples belonged exclusively to individuals collected after 1915. The obtained data highlight a high presence of specimens originating from other European populations and, despite all the conservation efforts, suggest an uncertain situation of the subspecies in Italy. This research was strongly backed up by extensive bibliographic research on historical documents, allowing the identification of hundreds of restocking events all over Italy. This is an integral part of this research and has laid the foundations for identifying and circumscribing historical periods in which introductions from the rest of Europe had different pressures, aiming to define a baseline.

The Udmurt dialectal designations of the grey partridge (Perdix perdix) are discussed from a language geographical point of view. Their areal distribution is outlined, the derivational structure of the names is analyzed, the etymological characteristics of their components are given and the basic naming principles are identified. All names, with the exception of с'ала, are formed by two lexemes. The most productive pattern of word formation is a compound ”adjective + noun”. The names of the grey partridge are characterized by the semantic models ’field hen’, ’wild hen’, ’field hazel grouse’, ’hazel grouse hen’, ’forest hen’. The explored names date from the period of independent development of Udmurt. The most frequently recorded lexical variants in dialects are луткурэг, кырc'ала, кыркурэг.

The Italian grey partridge ( Hartert, 1917) is a subspecies endemic to the Italian peninsula, considered extinct in the wild, and it is included in Annex I of the EU Bird Directive. The aim of our project is to reintroduce a viable population of the endemic taxon into a protected area in north-east Italy, using genetically selected founder birds belonging to the original Italian genetic lineage. From 2021 to 2023, a total of 30,078 partridges were reintroduced to Valle del Mezzano using a soft-release method, and 241 of them were equipped with VHF transmitters to evaluate survival, dispersal and spacing behaviour of the released birds. Furthermore, male spring counts using the playback method were performed to assess the number of reproductive pairs. The overall survival was 21.86%; the Cox proportional hazards model, including time-dependent effects, showed that neither sex (HR = 1.20, = 0.28) nor body mass significantly influenced survival. The release year was included as a stratification factor, and site-level heterogeneity was negligible. These results show that survival dynamics were not explained solely by individual traits. Dispersal distance and spatial behaviour were affected by the release year, while sex had only a minor effect and body mass had no impact. Local heterogeneity contributed to variability but did not override the strong temporal pattern. The number of calling males in spring ranged from 152 to 267, with variations between years. Overall, our findings suggest that post-release performance in reintroduced individuals is influenced more by environmental factors than by inherent individual traits. In conclusion, despite high mortality rates among reintroduced birds, the first breeding nucleus of Italian partridges since their extinction in the wild has been observed.

The grey partridge population has experienced significant declines across Europe, largely due to agricultural intensification and loss of habitat, leading to conservation actions such as Red‐listing in the UK and hunting bans in Greece. The genetics of Balkan and Scottish populations remain largely unexplored; genetic analyses are essential to evaluate the impact of past introduction efforts on wild populations, as breeding between released and wild‐living partridges may complicate recovery efforts. In this study, we sample wild and farmed individuals of grey partridge from the Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia) and the United Kingdom (UK) and employ 2300 SNPs, eight microsatellites, and two mitochondrial markers to investigate the genetic structure and diversity of their populations and the impact of past release activities. We reveal a clear distinction between two clades, an Eastern and a Western, as in previous studies, with wild birds from Greece and the UK classified to each clade, respectively. However, birds from North Macedonia belonged to either clade, suggesting a contact zone between the two or a genetic legacy of past introduction practices. The captive stock in Greece and the UK is clearly of Western origin, with minor introgression of the Eastern clade being detected. Finally, an informative SNP marker panel is presented that accurately assigns each individual to either the Eastern or Western clade and will serve as a valuable tool for monitoring population structure, guiding conservation efforts, and assessing the impact of introduction events on grey partridge populations.

As a farmland species, the grey partridge is facing a drastic decline all over Europe. In Vipava Valley (Slovenia), the species was last observed around 20 years ago. In this region, an initiative for reintroducing grey partridges was put forward, with much effort dedicated to breeding partridges and monitoring breeding success in a closed area. One of the initiative’s goals was to assess the local community’s attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge regarding birds and grey partridges. In this study, we investigated students’ attitudes toward birds in general, their attitudes toward and knowledge of grey partridges, and their beliefs about the feasibility of grey partridge reintroduction. Students generally supported the conservation of birds and grey partridges. However, they were neutral regarding learning about birds and undecided about the success of their reintroduction. Their beliefs regarding partridge reintroduction from the standpoint of natural heritage protection were slightly positive. The results showed that students were not familiar with the species. The study programme, willingness to volunteer, and amount of knowledge showed the most significant effects on students’ attitudes and beliefs. This study indicates that formal education should focus more on informing students about local biodiversity and related issues to raise local community awareness and engage them in conservation actions.

The aim of this study was to describe the morphology and means of identification of helminths in native partridges (65) and introduced pheasants (32) in Poland and to determine the level of intestinal infection of these birds by helminths using parasitological and ecological indices. The birds were acquired during the hunting season in the years 2015–2017. Nematodes, Capillaria phasianina, cestodes, Railietina friedbergeri, and one trematode, Brachylaima sp. were recorded for the first time in partridges in Poland. Our findings indicate that parasites are more prevalent in pheasants (prevalence 70.4%) than in partridges (prevalence 50.0%). The component community and infracommunity of parasites of partridges are more diverse (Simpson’s diversity index: 0.63 and mean Brillouin diversity index: 0.10 ± 0.17) and less dominated by a single parasite species (Capillaria sp., Berger-Parker dominance index: 0.53) than the pheasant parasite community (Simpson’s diversity index: 0.07, mean Brillouin diversity index: 0.005 ± 0.02, dominant species Heterakis gallinarum, Berger-Parker dominance index: 0.96). There were statistically significant differences between partridges and pheasants in the Brillouin diversity index and in the prevalence of Heterakis gallinarum (55.6% in pheasants vs. 19.0 in partridges). There were significant differences between wild and farmed partridges in the prevalence of infection by Capillaria sp. (4.3% vs. 37.5%) and H. gallinarum (39.1 vs. 6.2%). In conclusion, the pheasant was shown to be a reservoir, carrier, and shedder of nematodes, which may increase the risk of infection in partridges.

We report for the first time the occurrence of heteroplasmy in Grey Partridge ( Perdix perdix ) revealed by means of two mitochondrial fragments. The possible serious biological and management implications of this exception to unilateral inheritance of mtDNA were underlined.

Background Sexual selection has been hypothesised as favouring mate choice resulting in production of viable offspring with genotypes providing high pathogen resistance. Specific pathogen recognition is mediated by genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) encoding proteins fundamental for adaptive immune response in jawed vertebrates. MHC genes may also play a role in odour-based individual recognition and mate choice, aimed at avoiding inbreeding. MHC genes are known to be involved in mate choice in a number of species, with ‘good genes’ (absolute criteria) and ‘complementary genes’ (self-referential criteria) being used to explain MHC-based mating. Here, we focus on the effect of morphological traits and variation and genetic similarity between individuals in MHC class IIB (MHCIIB) exon 2 on mating in a free-living population of a monogamous bird, the grey partridge. Results We found no evidence for absolute mate choice criteria as regards grey partridge MHCIIB genotypes, i.e., number and occurrence of amino acid variants, though red chroma of the spot behind eyes was positively associated with male pairing success. On the other hand, mate choice at MHCIIB was based on relative criteria as females preferentially paired with more dissimilar males having a lower number of shared amino acid variants. This observation supports the ‘inbreeding avoidance’ and ‘complementary genes’ hypotheses. Conclusions Our study provides one of the first pieces of evidence for MHC-based mate choice for genetic complementarity in a strictly monogamous bird. The statistical approach employed can be recommended for testing mating preferences in cases where availability of potential mates (recorded with an appropriate method such as radio-tracking) shows considerable temporal variation. Additional genetic analyses using neutral markers may detect whether MHC-based mate choice for complementarity emerges as a by-product of general inbreeding avoidance in grey partridges.