Supplementary material to "Food and habitats requirements of the Scops Owl (Otus scops) in Switzerland revealed by very high-resolution multi-scale models"

<strong>Abstract</strong> In Europe, agricultural practices have progressively evolved towards high productivity leading either to the intensification of productive and accessible areas or to the abandonment of less profitable sites. Both processes have led to the degradation of semi-natural habitats like extensive grasslands, threatening species such as the Eurasian Scops Owl <em>Otus scops</em> that rely on extensively managed agricultural landscapes. In this work, we aimed to assess the habitat preferences of the Scops Owl using habitat suitability models combined with a multi-scale approach. We generated a set of multi-scale predictors, considering both biotic and abiotic variables, built on two newly developed vegetation management and orthopteran abundance models. To select the variables to incorporate in a ‘best multi-scale model’, we chose the best spatial scale for each variable using univariate models and by calculating their relative importance through multi-model inference. Next, we built ensembles of small models (ESMs) at 10 different scales from 50 to 1000 m, and an additional model with each variable at its best scale (‘best multi-scale model’). The latter performed better than most of the other ESMs and allowed the creation of a high-resolution habitat suitability map for the species. Scops Owls showed a preference for dry sites with extensive and well-structured habitats with 30–40% bush cover, and relied strongly on semi-extensive grasslands covering at least 30% of the surface within 300 m of the territory centre and with high orthopteran availability near the centre (50-m radius), revealing a need for good foraging grounds near the nest. At a larger spatial scale within a radius of 1000 m, the habitat suitability of Scops Owls was negatively related to forest cover. The resulting ESM predictions provide valuable tools for conservation planning, highlighting sites in need of particular conservation efforts together with offering estimates of the percentage of habitat types and necessary prey abundance that could be used as targets in future management plans to ensure the persistence of the population.**摘要** 在欧洲，农业生产方式正逐步向高产能方向演进，这要么导致生产性与可利用区域的集约化，要么导致低收益地块被弃耕。这两种过程均造成了粗放型草原等半自然生境的退化，对依赖粗放型农业景观的欧亚红角鸮（Otus scops）等物种构成了威胁。 本研究旨在结合栖息地适宜性模型与多尺度方法，评估红角鸮的栖息地偏好。我们基于两种新开发的植被管理模型与直翅目昆虫丰度模型，生成了涵盖生物与非生物变量的多尺度预测因子集。为筛选可纳入“最优多尺度模型”的变量，我们通过单变量模型为每个变量选取最优空间尺度，并借助多模型推断计算其相对重要性。随后，我们在50至1000米的10个不同尺度下构建了小模型集成（ESMs），并以每个变量的最优尺度构建了额外模型（即“最优多尺度模型”）。 该最优模型的表现优于多数其他小模型集成，可用于生成该物种的高分辨率栖息地适宜性分布图。红角鸮偏好拥有30%~40%灌丛覆盖的粗放型、结构完整的干燥生境，且强烈依赖领地中心300米范围内占比至少30%的半粗放型草原，以及中心附近（50米半径范围内）较高的直翅目昆虫资源，这表明其需要巢穴附近具备优质觅食场地。在1000米半径的更大空间尺度下，红角鸮的栖息地适宜性与森林覆盖度呈负相关。本研究得到的小模型集成预测结果可为保护规划提供宝贵工具，不仅能明确需要重点保护的区域，还可估算栖息地类型占比与必要的猎物丰度，这些指标可作为未来管理计划的目标，以保障种群存续。