Camera trap data suggest uneven predation risk across vegetation types in a mixed farmland landscape

Ground-nesting farmland birds such as the grey partridge (Perdix perdix) have been rapidly declining due to a combination of habitat loss, food shortage and predation. Predator activity is the least understood factor, especially its modulation by landscape composition and complexity. An important question is whether agri-environment schemes such as flower strips are potentially useful for reducing predation risk, e.g., from red fox (Vulpes vulpes). We employed 120 camera traps for two summers in an agricultural landscape in Central Germany to record predator activity (i.e., the number of predator captures) as a proxy for predation risk and used generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to investigate how the surrounding landscape affects predator activity in different vegetation types (flower strips, hedges, field margins, winter cereal and rapeseed fields). Additionally, we used 48 cameras to study the distribution of predator captures within flower strips. Vegetation type was the most i...