Journal
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Volume 9, Issue 24, Pages 14053-14065Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5843
Keywords
incubation behavior; nest success; recess movements; reproduction; Wild Turkey
Categories
Funding
- South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
- Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division
- TPWD
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [TX W-164-R-1]
- United States Forest Service, Kisatchie Ranger District of Louisiana
- Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In ground nesting upland birds, reproductive activities contribute to elevated predation risk, so females presumably use multiple strategies to ensure nest success. Identification of drivers reducing predation risk has primarily focused on evaluating vegetative conditions at nest sites, but behavioral decisions manifested through movements during incubation may be additional drivers of nest survival. However, our understanding of how movements during incubation impact nest survival is limited for most ground nesting birds. Using GPS data collected from female Eastern Wild Turkeys (n = 206), we evaluated nest survival as it relates to movement behaviors during incubation, including recess frequency, distance traveled during recesses, and habitat selection during recess movements. We identified 9,361 movements off nests and 6,529 recess events based on approximately 62,065 hr of incubation data, and estimated mean nest attentiveness of 84.0%. The numbers of recesses taken daily were variable across females (range: 1-7). Nest survival modeling indicated that increased cumulative distance moved during recesses each day was the primary driver of positive daily nest survival. Our results suggest behavioral decisions are influencing trade-offs between nest survival and adult female survival during incubation to reduce predation risk, specifically through adjustments to distances traveled during recesses.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available