Understanding patterns in the spatial distribution of individuals in a population is a central question in ecology. Concurrent with advances in biotelemetry devices, development of home range estimator methods incorporating the temporal component of locational fixes are increasingly used to investigate these patterns at finer scales. However, these methods may necessitate sampling schedules that limit battery life and study period length. Practically, evaluating how home range estimator methods affect calculations of space use and habitat selection prior to deployment of biotelemetry devices could help researchers optimize data acquisition schedules. We quantified spatial overlap between a home range estimator using temporal information (dynamic Brownian bridge movement model [dBBMM]) and home range estimators not incorporating the temporal component of fixes (ad hoc and href kernel density estimator [KDE]) across differing sample schedules, and the resulting error in habitat selection ratios using data collected from wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) equipped with Global Positioning Systems units in Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana, USA, during February-May 2015. When comparing ranges created from KDEs to dBBMM, commission errors were large (20-80%) and did not diminish with increased sampling rates. In contrast, omission error rate declined quicker and improvements were minimal when fix rates increased beyond 4/day. Compared with ranges estimated with dBBMM, KDEs poorly defined the spatial bearings of an individual's range, overestimated areas of use, underestimated areas avoided, and showed different patterns of habitat selection. Our results suggest home range estimator methods incorporating temporal information seem capable of estimating ranges encompassing nearly all area used by an individual and should be used even at relatively low-frequency collection schedules to assess home ranges of wild turkeys. If researchers are interested in describing habitat selection of wild turkeys, we recommend a sampling schedule of 1 location/ hour during daytime and dBBMM for range estimation. Ó 2018 The Wildlife Society. KEY WORDS dynamic Brownian Bridge movement models, Global Positioning Systems, home range estimators, isopleth, kernel density, Meleagris gallopavo, movement-based utilization distribution, wild turkey.

We investigated the site occupancy dynamics of greater prairie-chickens at Konza Prairie Biological Station, a protected site in northeastern Kansas that is managed for ecological research. We surveyed the site during mid-Mar to mid-May, 1981mid-May, -2008, and recorded detections of birds in a grid of 6.3 ha survey plots (n ¼ 187 plots). We used multiseason occupancy models to estimate the probabilities of occupancy (c) and detection (p), and tested whether land cover in woody vegetation, and land use with prescribed fire or grazing management influenced the dynamic processes of site colonization and local extinction. Probability of detection per site was consistently <1 and varied among years (p ¼ 0.12-0.82). Site occupancy of prairie-chickens declined 40% over the study period from a high of c ¼ 0.19 AE 0.02 SE in 1981 to a low of 0.11 AE 0.03 in 2008, despite protection from disturbance at leks and losses to harvest. We found that different sets of environmental factors impacted the probabilities of colonization and local extinction. Probability of colonization for an unoccupied site was negatively associated with the proportion of site occupied by woodland cover (b ¼ À1.25), and was lower for grazed sites (b ¼ À0.62). In contrast, probability of local extinction was affected by a weak interaction between grazing and average frequency of prescribed fire (b ¼ À1.01), but model-averaged slope coefficients were not statistically different than 0. To conserve prairie-chickens, we recommend prairies be managed with combinations of prescribed fire and grazing that maintain a heterogeneous mosaic of prairie habitats, while preventing woody encroachment. To assess biotic responses to land management practices, field sampling should be based on occupancy models or similar techniques that account for imperfect detection. ß 2011 The Wildlife Society.

Prescribed fire is widely used in southeastern pine (Pinus spp.) forests to maintain desirable forest conditions and provide early successional vegetation. However, it is unclear how fires applied just prior to and during the reproductive cycle of ground nesting Galliformes influence resource selection. We examined the short-term influence of prescribed fire on habitat selection of female eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) throughout their reproductive cycle (FebÀAug) at Kisatchie National Forest in west-central Louisiana, USA during 2014 and 2015. Kisatchie was dominated (>60%) by pine stands managed with prescribed fire at a frequent (i.e., 1-3 yr) return interval. We captured 46 females and equipped them with backpack-style global positioning system (GPS) transmitters programmed to collect relocation data hourly from 0600 to 2000 each day. We used distance-based analysis to estimate selection or avoidance of vegetation communities relative to reproductive phenology of individual females. Hardwood and mixedpine hardwood vegetation communities were selected for before and after reproductive efforts; hardwood stands were avoided during brooding. While laying their first clutch of the reproductive period, females selected mature pines burned 0-5 months prior. Females avoided mature pine stands 2 growing seasons postburn prior to initiating their first nests. Females avoided mature pine stands 3 growing seasons post-burn when brooding. Turkeys did not select for pine stands that had experienced !3 growing seasons post-burn during any reproductive period, and may avoid these stands during pre-nesting and brooding. Frequent fire return intervals maintain vegetation communities that females select at some point during the reproductive season in pine-dominated landscapes. Ó 2017 The Wildlife Society.

Explosive population growth and increasing demand for rural homes and lifestyles fueled exurbanization and urbanization in the western USA over the past decades. Using National Land Cover Data we analyzed land fragmentation trends from 1992 to 2001 in five southwestern cities associated with Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites. We observed two general fragmentation trends: expansion of the urbanized area leading to Urban Ecosyst (2011) fragmentation in the exurban and peri-urban regions and decreased fragmentation associated with infill in the previously developed urban areas. We identified three fragmentation patterns, riparian, polycentric, and monocentric, that reflect the recent western experience with growth and urbanization. From the literature and local expert opinion, we identified five relevant drivers -water provisioning, population dynamics, transportation, topography, and institutions -that shape land use decision-making and fragmentation in the southwest. In order to assess the relative importance of each driver on urbanization, we linked historical site-specific driver information obtained through literature reviews and archival analyses to the observed fragmentation patterns. Our work highlights the importance of understanding land use decision-making drivers in concert and throughout time, as historic decisions leave legacies on landscapes that continue to affect land form and function, a process often forgotten in a region and era of blinding change.

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