No abstract

Eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) have colonized the entire state of Wisconsin, USA since being successfully reintroduced in the 1970s. Recently, conservation groups have expressed concerns regarding habitat quantity and quality in association with population plateaus and declines in local abundance in some portions of the state. Estimates of survival and productivity are needed to identify the current population status and for drafting effective management plans. We evaluated female eastern wild turkey demographic parameters and the relationship of these parameters to landscape composition between townships that were forest-dominated and those that were primarily open (e.g., cropland, pasture) in southwest and west-central Wisconsin. We radiomarked 129 female eastern wild turkeys during a 2-year field study (2010)(2011)(2012). Seasonal variation and landscape effects on survival were important components in our top models, which accounted for >98% of the relative support. Seasonal survival (AESE) was lowest during spring ( Management of eastern wild turkeys that enhances female and poult survival during the nesting and brood-rearing periods can greatly influence population growth, particularly in forest-dominant landscapes.

Due to anthropogenic pressures, African lion (Panthera leo) populations in Kenya and Tanzania are increasingly limited to fragmented populations. Lions living on isolated habitat patches exist in a matrix of less-preferred habitat. A framework of habitat patches within a less-suitable matrix describes a metapopulation. Metapopulation analysis can provide insight into the dynamics of each population patch in reference to the system as a whole, and these analyses often guide conservation planning. We present the first metapopulation analysis of African lions. We use a spatially-realistic model to investigate how sex-biased dispersal abilities of lions affect patch occupancy and also examine whether human densities surrounding the remaining lion populations affect the metapopulation as a whole. Our results indicate that male lion dispersal ability strongly contributes to population connectivity while the lesser dispersal ability of females could be a limiting factor. When populations go extinct, recolonization will not occur if distances between patches exceed female dispersal ability or if females are not able to survive moving across the matrix. This has profound implications for the overall metapopulation; the female models showed an intrinsic extinction rate from five-fold to a hundred-fold higher than the male models. Patch isolation is a consideration for even the largest lion populations. As lion populations continue to decline and with local extinctions occurring, female dispersal ability and the proximity to the nearest lion population are serious considerations for the recolonization of individual populations and for broader conservation efforts.

No abstract

We examined how harvest affected natural mortality rates and how the dynamics of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus, hereafter bobwhite) covey membership might affect the additive nature of harvest. We conducted repeated searches for coveys and radiomarked all coveys found on 12 259‐ha study areas in east‐central Kansas, USA. We simulated a harvest in 6 randomly selected areas each year during November–January, 1997–2000, by trapping and removing 60% of bobwhites in each covey. We used flush counts and radiotelemetry to measure harvest effects on natural mortality rates, overall winter survival, covey size, and densities. Observed natural mortality rates of radiomarked individuals were similar between harvested (50.6 + 4.3%) and unharvested areas (52.1 + 4.7%). Estimated winter survival was 47.9% on the unharvested areas and 20.9% on the harvested areas. Harvest did not affect the number of coveys, average covey size, or density of bobwhites, indicating that coveys coalesced through local movement. Our results indicate that harvest is additive to natural mortality and suggest that local movement to maintain optimal group sizes can mask the true effect of harvest on observed densities in small areas.