Field vole population cycles drive the welfare and survival of multiple predator species including barn owls, kestrels, and short-eared owls, creating linked ecological welfare dynamics.
Vole population cycles create predictable but unavoidable welfare crises for dependent predators. In crash years, barn owls unable to find sufficient prey face starvation, and those with dependent chicks experience nest failure. Kestrels in crash years have reduced breeding success and elevated adult mortality. The welfare of predator species is thus directly coupled to vole population dynamics - a connection that makes rough grassland habitat not merely a landscape feature but a welfare infrastructure for multiple species. Maintaining diverse rough grassland with stable vole populations is therefore one of the highest-impact actions for predator welfare across multiple species simultaneously.