Habitat influences Northern Bobwhite survival at fine spatiotemporal scales

[摘要] ABSTRACT Habitat quality influences individual survival at widely varying spatial and temporal scales. Understanding interactions between habitat and survival among individuals in declining populations that occupy highly modified landscapes can inform conservation strategies aimed at improving survival and population growth. We used radiotelemetry to monitor space use and daily survival of wintering Northern Bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) at the northern end of their range to test for fine spatial- and temporal-scale relationships between individual survival and habitat composition around radio-locations in agricultural landscapes in Ohio, USA. Habitat composition within daily and seasonal movement ranges of individuals (n = 189) during periods without snow cover did not explain variation in daily survival rates. However, mortality increased substantially in the presence of snow cover, and availability of woody cover and row crops within 95 m of an individual radio-location were positively associated wit...

[学科分类] 动物科学

[关键词] agricultural landscape;Colinus virginianus;generalized linear mixed models;habitat;Northern Bobwhite;radiotelemetry;survival;winter weather