Wildlife and Forestry - Jeff Taverner, Arkansas Game & Fish Commission
Brinkley - UT Forestry, Wildlife and...
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4/4/2011 1 Steven Brinkley, M.S. Candidate Steven Brinkley, M.S. Candidate Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries Wednesday, March 30, 2011 12:20 – 1:10 pm 160 Plant Biotech Building Introduction • Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) population decline – Breeding Bird Survey • Survey‐wide: 3 0%/year 1966 ‐ 2007 Survey‐wide: 3.0%/year 1966 ‐ 2007 • Florida: 3.6%/year 1966 ‐ 2007 Sauer et al. 2008 Introduction • Causes of Population Decline – Habitat loss/degradation (Brennan 1991) • Urban sprawl Urban sprawl • Changing farming practices • Conversion from native grasslands to exotic – Overharvest? (Roseberry and Klimstra 1984, Williams et al. 2009) – Weather/Rain? (Frye 1954, Cooper et al. 2009) Source: http://www.kahngrove.com/images/grove_develope.jpg
Transcript of Brinkley - UT Forestry, Wildlife and...
4/4/2011
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Steven Brinkley, M.S. CandidateSteven Brinkley, M.S. CandidateDepartment of Forestry, Wildlife, and FisheriesDepartment of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 12:20 – 1:10 pm 160 Plant Biotech Building
Introduction
• Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) population decline
– Breeding Bird Survey
• Survey‐wide: 3 0%/year 1966 ‐ 2007Survey‐wide: 3.0%/year 1966 ‐ 2007
• Florida: 3.6%/year 1966 ‐ 2007
Sauer et al. 2008
Introduction
• Causes of Population Decline
– Habitat loss/degradation (Brennan 1991)
• Urban sprawlUrban sprawl
• Changing farming practices
• Conversion from native grasslands to exotic
– Overharvest? (Roseberry and Klimstra
1984, Williams et al. 2009)
– Weather/Rain? (Frye 1954, Cooper et al. 2009)
Source: http://www.kahngrove.com/images/grove_develope.jpg
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Introduction
• Why the alarm?– Economics
• 1991: $95 million spent on bobwhite hunting in Southeast (Burger et al. 1999)
S ll i i d d i• Small communities depend on income
– Management $– Quail constituency group dollars
– Tax dollars
– Hunting and recreation license fees
• Bobwhite habitat supports many other species!
– Stewardship
Objectives
• To determine the effect of rain and/or rain events on bobwhite survival and nest survival in southwest Florida
• To determine the effect of hunting pressure• To determine the effect of hunting pressure and harvest regulation changes on bobwhite survival in southwest Florida
Study Area• Babcock‐Webb WMA (BWWMA)– Located ≈ 8 km east of Punta Gorda, FL
– 26,612 ha
/– Southern pine / palmetto flatwoods with virgin, native herbaceous understory
– Popular hunting, fishing, and recreational area in southwest Florida
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Study Area
Regular Quail Hunting Season
2002 – 2006 Regulations• 6 week hunting season
– Mid November – December
• 4 hunt days/weekW d Th S t d S
2007 – 2008 Regulations
• 848 hunter day quota / year
• Max 6 week hunting season– Mid November – December
– Wed, Thurs, Sat, and Sun
• 6 birds/hunter/day
• Zones A and B– 10 hunters/day
• Zones C and D– Unlimited hunters/day
• Zone F: closed
• 4 hunt days/week– Wed, Thurs, Sat, and Sun
• 6 birds/hunter/day
• Zones A, B, C, and D– Attempted even hunters/day
• Zone F: closed
Regular Season Quail Hunting Pressure/Zone
2002 – 2006Unlimited Hunter Days
CUnlimited
FNo Hunting
A
B10 hunters/day
10 hunters/day
Dhunters/day
Unlimited hunters/day
Check Station
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Regular Season Quail Hunting Pressure/Zone
2007 Quota848 Hunter Days for Entire WMA
FNo Hunting
C247 Hunter Days
A228 Hunter Daysfor Season
for Season
B227 Hunter Daysfor Season
D174 Hunter Daysfor Season
Check Station
Regular Season Quail Hunting Pressure/Zone
2008 Quota848 Hunter Days (212/Zone)
FNo Hunting
C213 Hunter Days
A
B
D212 Hunter Daysfor Season
for Season
212 Hunter Daysfor Season
212 Hunter Daysfor Season
Check Station
Zone F Quail Hunt Season
• 2003 ‐ 2009
– 2 Day Quota Hunt
– Saturday and Sunday at the end of January
– Max 25 hunters/day
– 6 birds/hunter/day
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Methods
• Capturing bobwhites
– Bait trap (Stoddard 1931)• 711 bobwhites
– Call‐back trap
• 755 bobwhites
– Cast net • Dog: 459 bobwhites
• Night: 54 bobwhites
• Day: 202 bobwhites
– Night mist net• 44 bobwhites
Methods
• Measurements
– Age (juvenile or adult) –wing*
– Sex – plumage*
Mass (gram)– Mass (gram)
• Marking for ID
– Leg Band – all bobwhites
– Neck loop radio transmitter with mercury switch
• All bobwhites > 130 g
* Rosene 1969
Methods
• Radio Telemetry – year round– Homing (20 m) via ATV
– GPS location – date, time, zone, and statustime, zone, and status (alive or dead)
– 4 to 10 days
– Survival Checks• Checked status of bobwhites during inclement weather and hunting season
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Methods
• Nest location– Mid March – Mid October– Checked every bobwhite’s
location closely– Same location for 2
consecutive encountersconsecutive encounters– Nests flagged for further
location and avoidance
• Nest monitoring– 1 – 3 days until fate– Success = hatched– Failure = destroyed or
abandoned
Data
Survival• Survival histories for ≈ 2000
bobwhites over 7 years
• Accurate check station data
Nest Survival• Nest survival histories for
400 nests over 7 years
• Habitat (vector) data in GIS (hunter days/zone) for each day of each hunting season during the study
• Daily rainfall data from Charlotte County Airport (< 1 km west of BWWMA)
for nest habitat composition
• Burn status for each nest
• Daily rainfall data from Charlotte County Airport (< 1 km west of BWWMA)
Analysis
• Survival– Program MARK: known‐fate models (White and Burnham 1999)
– AIC and ∆AIC to determine best model(s)
– Encounter histories (breeding and non‐breeding) with 2 periods/weekperiods/week
• Monday – Thursday and Friday – Sunday
– Covariates• Sex, age, and zone for each bird
• Hunting pressure (hunter days) for each zone by time period
• Total season hunting pressure for each zone
• Monthly and seasonal rainfall totals
• Bobwhite density per zone by year and available birds/hunter day by zone by year
• Average daily temperature by encounter period
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Analysis
• Nest Survival– Program MARK: Nest Survival (White and Burnham 1999)
– AIC and ∆AIC for best model(s) – Covariates:
• Total rainfall 3 12 and 23 days prior to fateTotal rainfall 3, 12, and 23 days prior to fate• Rain event ≥ 7.62 cm 3 days prior to fate (yes or no)• # of rain events ≥ 7.62 cm 12 days prior to fate• % composition of favorable habitat types 100m and 1000m radius of nest
– Favorable habitat(s) determined by compositional analysis (Aebischer et al. 1993)
• Burn status (burned < 1 year and burned > 1 year)• Temperature: average daily 12 days prior to fate
Analysis
• Nest Survival (cont.)
– Hierarchical approach
• Stage 1a: find best temporal and environmental models
• Stage 1b: find best habitat models and test burn status
• Stage 2: take best models from stages 1a and 1b for final model suite adding interactions if needed
Management Implications
• Hunting Pressure– Allow management to set logical future hunting pressure quotas so that the local bobwhite population is not over exploited
• Rainfall– Assess potential nest mortality by rainfall amounts and/or events
– Adjust hunting regulations the following fall to reduce pressure on the population after a summer of potentially low productivity
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Acknowledgments
• Committee: Dr. David Buehler, Dr. Ralph Dimmick, Dr. Arnold Saxton, and Dr. Joe Clark
• Billy Minser• Field Crew: A. Brinkley, D. Caudill , J. Coker, Dr. S. Dimmick, M. Green, D.
Holt, C. Jones, J. Scott, and J. Sloan, , ,
• Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
– BWWMA staff
• University of Tennessee
– Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries
• Volunteers: SW Florida Flatwoods Quail Forever and quail hunters
Literature Cited
• Aebischer, N. J., P. A. Robertson, and R. E. Kenward. 1993. Compositional Analysis of Habitat Use From Animal Radio‐Tracking Data. Ecology 74:1313‐1325.
• Brennan, L. A. 1991. How Can We Reverse the Northern Bobwhite Population Decline? Wildlife Society Bulletin 19:544‐555.
• Burger, L. W., D. A. Miller, and R. I. Southwick. 1999. Economic Impact of Northern Bobwhite Hunting in the Southeastern United States. Wildlife Society Bulletin 27:1010‐1018.
• Cooper, S. M., J. C. Cathey, D. L. Alford, and S. S. Sieckenius. 2009. Influence of Rainfall, Typte of Range, and Brush Management on Abundance of Northern Bobwhites (Colinusvirginianus) in Southern Texas Southwestern Naturalist 54:13‐18virginianus) in Southern Texas. Southwestern Naturalist 54:13 18.
• Frye, O. E. J. 1954. Charlotte County Quail Investigation. Report Project Florida W‐11‐2.
• Roseberry, J. L., and W. D. Klimstra. 1984. Population Ecology of the Bobwhite. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, USA.
• Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2008. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966‐2007. Version 5.15.2008, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.
• Stoddard, H. L. 1931. The bobwhite quail: its habits, preservation and increase. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, New York, USA.
• White, G. C., and K. P. Burnham. 1999. Program MARK: survival estimation from populations of marked animals. Bird Study 46:120‐139.
• Williams, C. K., R. S. Lutz, R. D. Applegate, and P. William. 2009. Winter Survival and Additive Harvest in Northern Bobwhite Coveys in Kansas. Journal of Wildlife Management 68:94‐100.
Questions?
Steven [email protected]
