Aspects of northern bobwhite ecology on south Florida US pastureland

Martin, James A.; Palmer, William E.; Carroll, John P.

doi:10.1007/s10344-012-0667-6

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Estimating bobwhite density in an unbiased and precise manner is difficult across the bobwhite range. The precision of bobwhite population size estimates in the southeastern United States varies by survey method and study area (Wellendorf and Palmer 2005, Martin et al 2013, Yeiser et al 2018). Moreover, understanding factors that influence density across time and space is tenuous for many conventional methods because the sampling frame is ill‐defined.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Landscape Characteristics on Northern Bobwhite Density

et al. 2021

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The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) is an ecologically and economically valuable species in the United States. Managers rely on autumn density estimates to set harvest regulations, balancing the interests of hunters and long‐term bobwhite population viability. Spatial capture‐recapture (SCR) is a useful framework for estimating population size and modeling spatial variation in density. We used SCR to quantify the effect of landscape structure on spatial variation in density for a population of bobwhites on the Di‐Lane Wildlife Management Area in Waynesboro, Georgia, USA. Without additional telemetry or nesting data, we were also able to estimate a spatially explicit metric of productivity. To sample the population, we deployed a fixed array of 395, 262, and 268 funnel traps in 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively. We estimated age structure, with the highest density of juveniles (0.32 birds/ha, 95% CI = 0.28–0.37) and adults (0.10 birds/ha, 95% CI = 0.08–0.12) estimated in 2016. In our top model, density was negatively related to the proportion of closed canopy hardwoods. To increase bobwhite density on the landscape, managers should reduce the amount of closed canopy hardwood forest. Furthermore, the spatially explicit age ratio we estimated could be used to target management towards increasing the recruitment of chicks into the autumn population. An SCR approach may require additional logistical and financial resources relative to other data collection methods, but it makes modeling spatial variation in density straightforward and can be used to gather data to simultaneously understand population structure, vital rates, and movement. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%