Old habits in a new habitat: breeding requirements of the Little Ringed Plover fit into intensively managed arable land

Arable land is habitat maintained by man that is inhabited by many steppe and wetland species. Due to the intensification of agriculture during the twentieth century, many of these species went into decline or have disappeared. The Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius) is one of a small number of exceptions that are showing the opposite trend. Scattered and ambiguous findings have indicated that arable land is becoming a new regular nesting habitat for this species across Europe. We have made a detailed investigation into this non-traditional habitat choice of plovers, and we have compared this choice with the known breeding requirements of this species. We studied a breeding population in the Czech Republic. Plovers bred in various crops, but principally in maize. Known breeding habitat requirements, such as proximity to a water source, edge avoidance and favour for stones were met in arable land. The nests were built near to fishponds and away from field edges, irrespective of the distance from forests and roads. Plovers favoured sandy or stony patches, and preferred to dig nest scrapes next to conspicuous objects such as big stones or plant remains. No differences in nest crypsis were observed between arable fields and other habitats, and nest crypsis did not correlate with surrounding stoniness. Although present-day arable land is an inhospitable environment for most bird species, its temporarily bare fields with pebble patches attract the Little Ringed Plover to breed in. Breeding habitat opportunism of this plover together with a wide availability of large arable fields can make the intensively managed arable land unexpectedly promising for this wader and can support its population increase across Europe. Detecting parts of arable land suitable for nesting of the Little Ringed Plover may improve conservation measures for this inconspicuous species.