ABIOTIC FACTORS

Long rains at the time of resting are not a problem for brooding females but may affect on the decay of litters in synergy with harassment by predators or livestock. In wet meadows may cause flooding litters. Young that are just hatched, are vulnerable to abundant rain, it can be fatal to them.

Bad weather conditions during the winter, especially  long periods of temperatures below - 15 C, as well as thick or frozen lengthy snow cover, make Great Bustard to migrate to the south, returning in decimated flocks. In the adverse winter conditions, Great Bustard leaves field where it breeds. Due to the lack of food, an instinct for migration awakens. Leaving the habitat is the last option for Great Bustard. At that point, Great Bustard is already exhausted, the fight is more complicated wile there is precipitation, and they become easy pray for a variety of predators, a large number of birds perish because of exhaustion, they die of hunger. "The freezing rains " are also a danger to Great Bustard. Icy crust that forms on the surface of snow cover, even when it is quite small, prevents food obtaining under the snow. 

BIOTIC FACTORS

Predators are a serious risk factor for Great Bustard. Among mammals, the most dangerous are are the foxes, wild pigs and dogs, than badgers and swears. Birds, crows, jackdaws and rooks are a potential risk factor for eggs also. Eggs and young birds can also be jeopardized by storks, gulls, harriers, and buzzards. Therefore, the reduction of the predators, especially the fox in years of high abundance (which is usually accompanied by an increase of the rodent population density), is a necessary measure in the area management. One of the preventing activities is organized hunting of predators in order to bring the number to reasonable level. This activity , in addition to preserving the great bustard population, would maintain the necessary number of hunted individuals. This does not apply to legally protected, rare species and those whose number is compromised. This type of hunting must be systematically controlled and well organized. Unfortunately, in most cases it is not in our practice. In the upcoming period, it is necessary to work on educating hunters and hunting associations on how to achieve the optimal number of predators, but also to modulate regulations.

ANTHROPOGENIC FACTORS

Best crops for winter feeding is rapeseed. 

Agriculture is the strongest and most diverse risk factor for Great Bustard. Plowing of grassland habitat and establishing the crops had a biggest influence on decreasing the number of Great Bustard in the Pannonian lowland. Different crops that are sown in the plowed areas serve to Great Bustard differently. As addition to grass habitat, a suitable culture for nest include wheat, especially winter wheat, alfalfa and neglected land. Adversely crops are sunflower, corn, sugar beets, vegetables, poppy and more . On the fields where Great Bustard is nesting, problems occur with harvesting alfalfa and wheat, and also with mowing. Alfalfa is suitable for nesting, but is mowed at the end of May, at the time when females are brooding. The work of farm machinery and stripping of vegetation affect the female to leave the nest. Wheat is harvested mostly in July when the chicks are grown, except when there is the second brood.

Problem with destruction of litters occurs when the second litter is  located in the wheat. Mechanical mowing and grass collecting harass females on the nests and kill young birds.Spring fertilization and other forms of  machine presence in this period,disturbs males strut.Pesticides can accumulate in the tissues of mice and insects that Great Bustard eats,and influence by reducing the general abundance and variety of food in these habitats. Setting up a scarecrows, , irrigation machines, greenhouses and other structures interfere with the reproductive cycle.

Hunting the Great Bustard is banned in Serbia. In the environment of their habitat in northern Banat, hunters traditionally keep them safe. If these intense winter force them to migrate to the south, there is a danger of being hunted in areas with less developed awareness of the need for their protection. The hunting season for deer occurs during the period when Great Bustard is strutting and nesting, and then people are moving and shooting in the habitat of this bird, which represents a significant risk factor and harassment.

Poaching.

Moderate stock farming is useful for the habitat of Great Bustard. Too many cows or sheep, can disturb the females in the nest and the strutting males. A significant harassment factor is the shepherds and their dogs. Predators can find the nests by the trail that shepherds leave behind. Pigs that freely move through pastures are exceptional threat to the nests.

The energetic, and above all the power lines and wind turbines are extremely serious risk factor for Great Bustards across he whole area they inhabit. There are very frequent cases of suffering when hitting the strings or propeller, which is especially noticeable in low visibility. 

Mining and geological prospecting works primarily on the exploitation of oil, gas and gravel, are damaging habitat and disturbing Great Bustard that is nesting, and in other seasons.

Change of use of meadows and pastures, through the construction of fish farms or reforestation, disrupts habitats and makes them unsuitable for the great bustard.

Transport infrastructure separates suitable habitats and disturbs the birds. This applies both to the rural and asphalt roads, also on all the airports.

Fires.