Red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) populations have significantly declined in the Iberian Peninsula (by > 50% between 1973 and 2002). This decline has been attributed to the drastic changes that have occurred in traditional agricultural landscapes, among other factors. This paper assesses the relationship between landscape change and the changes in areas favourable to partridges. The areas favourable to partridges in Andalusia (southern Spain), and the environmental and land-use factors that determined these areas, were identified for both the 1960s and the 1990s. Land-use changes were analysed both throughout the study area and for areas where favourability for partridges has either improved or worsened during recent decades. Both the location and the factors determining areas favourable to red-legged partridges have changed substantially over recent decades. In the 1960s, areas favourable to partridges were associated mainly with natural vegetation in mountainous areas, whereas, by the 1990s, favourable areas were associated with large low-lying croplands; such change may be attributable to regional land-use changes. The percentage area of the main natural vegetation variables positively correlated to partridge favourability in the 1960s model (mainly pastures and open scrubland) had decreased in areas that had become unfavourable to the species (such as mountain areas), and risen where partridge favourability increased. By the 1990s, the land area favourable to partridges had decreased by c. 10% (c. 6000 km2) in southern Spain, whereas land use unfavourable to partridges markedly increased (> 100%; an increase of c. 3000 km2). Landscape suitable for partridges has thus become severely impoverished over recent decades in the Iberian Peninsula. Management measures aimed at improving the landscape for farmland birds should be encouraged to conserve red-legged partridge populations in southern Spain.

European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), a multifunctional keystone species in the Iberian Peninsula, have drastically declined over past decades. Rabbit decline has been frequently attributed to the arrival of two viral diseases. However, decline was apparently ongoing before the arrival of the diseases, as a consequence of habitat loss and fragmentation. In this paper, the effect on rabbit populations of land-use changes during recent decades in Andalusia (southern Spain) is analysed. Areas favourable for rabbits both at present and during the 1960s are identified, and the environmental and land-use factors that determine these areas established. In areas where the favourability for rabbits has changed during recent decades, main land use changes are assessed to identify possible factors explaining rabbit favourability in these areas. Areas favourable to rabbits are currently determined by factors similar to those during the 1960s; these areas have undergone geographic changes in recent decades, apparently as a consequence of land-use changes in Andalusia. The percentages of the variables that were positively associated with rabbit favourability in both models (current and 1960s) have declined in Andalusia as a whole, and in areas where rabbit favourability has decreased; hence environments suitable for rabbits have become impoverished. Conversely, in both models, environments suitable for rabbits increased in municipalities, where rabbit favourability also increased. The preservation of rabbit-friendly habitats should be a priority for the conservation of this key species in the western Mediterranean.