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Non-brooding northern bobwhite resource selection during breeding season in a managed longleaf pine ecosystem
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  • Jeffrey Grayum,
  • L. Conner,
  • Daniel Crawford,
  • Zach Henshaw,
  • Raymond Iglay,
  • Justin Rectenwald,
  • Brandon Rutledge,
  • David Sisson,
  • Clay Sisson,
  • Scott Smith,
  • Mark McConnell
Jeffrey Grayum
Mississippi State University
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L. Conner
Jones Ecological Research Center
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Daniel Crawford
The Jones Center at Ichauway
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Zach Henshaw
The Jones Center at Ichauway
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Raymond Iglay
Mississippi State University
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Justin Rectenwald
Tall Timbers Research Station
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Brandon Rutledge
The Jones Center at Ichauway
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David Sisson
The Jones Center at Ichauway
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Clay Sisson
Tall Timbers Research Station
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Scott Smith
The Jones Center at Ichauway
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Mark McConnell
Mississippi State University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

Investigating resource selection patterns of declining species is critical to developing effective conservation strategies and mitigating negative population trends. We trapped and radio-collared northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and recorded the location of each individual three times per week during the northern bobwhite breeding season (April – September) to infer resource selection by non-brooding adults. We defined 13 vegetation communities with varying fire histories and assessed their relative use via a distance-based logistic regression model within a Bayesian framework. We found reliable evidence that non-brooding northern bobwhite preferred supplemental feed lines, recently burned natural pine stands, one-year rough in shrub/scrub, and one-year rough in hardwood-pine stands. Conversely, we found they avoided one-year rough in natural pine stands, recently burned shrub/scrub, and recently burned hardwood-pine stands. Our data suggest that non-brooding bobwhite’s successional stage preference may vary between vegetation communities within the same study area and adds further evidence to the importance of fire and vegetation interspersion in bobwhite management. Results from our study may be applied to enhance habitat for non-brooding northern bobwhite and potentially increase adult survival, an important metric correlated with bobwhite population growth.
30 Sep 2024Submitted to Wildlife Biology
01 Oct 2024Submission Checks Completed
01 Oct 2024Assigned to Editor
01 Oct 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
04 Oct 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
18 Oct 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Major