Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
We evaluated pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) fawn bedding site characteristics on a prairie and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) landscape interface in Custer State Park, South Dakota. We radiomarked 16 adult female pronghorn and... more
We evaluated pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) fawn bedding site characteristics on a prairie and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) landscape interface in Custer State Park, South Dakota. We radiomarked 16 adult female pronghorn and collected bed site information from their fawns during 2007–2008. We compared bed site selection with random sites (n = 74) during 2 periods; the early hiding phase when fawns were 1–28 days of age (n = 23 bed sites) and the later group phase when fawns were 29–60 days of age (n = 52 bed sites). During the hiding phase fawns selected dry prairie-seminatural mixed grassland at the course-scale level; group phase fawns selected prairie dog (Cynomys ludoviciana) dominated grasslands and dry prairie-seminatural mixed grassland at the course-scale. Evaluation at the fine-scale indicated fawns during the group phase period selected bed sites that had greater forb cover and overstory canopy cover of ponderosa pine trees compared to random sites. Management activ...
Merriam's turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo merriami) in the Black Hills feed in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest habitats during winter, but some birds centralize winter activities within or near farmsteads that provide waste grain... more
Merriam's turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo merriami) in the Black Hills feed in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest habitats during winter, but some birds centralize winter activities within or near farmsteads that provide waste grain as supplemental food. The objective of our research was to determine if female Merriam's turkeys that wintered in association with supplemental food from livestock feeding had different survival rates than birds that wintered within ponderosa pine forest. We captured and radiomarked 94 females over a 4-year period. Winter (1 Dec-31 Mar) survival of Merriam's females wintering in association with livestock feeding and farmsteads (Sˆ 0.94, SE 0.03) was not different from females wintering in forest habitats (Sˆ 0.92, SE 0.03). Annual survival of adult females (mean Sˆ 0.67, SE 0.09) varied among years (range 0.54-0.83) from 2001-2003 based on Kaplan-Meier estimates. Lowest seasonal survival occurred during spring (1 Apr-30 Jun) (adult Sˆ 0.83...
Research Interests:
Background/Question/Methods A use-availability sampling design is commonly employed in resource selection studies. Under a use-availability design, a sample of used sites is selected from the subpopulation of used sites and a sample of... more
Background/Question/Methods A use-availability sampling design is commonly employed in resource selection studies. Under a use-availability design, a sample of used sites is selected from the subpopulation of used sites and a sample of available sites is selected from the entire population. Commonly used analytical approaches for such data estimate a resource selection index that is assumed proportional to the absolute probability of use, but recent work has demonstrated that such proportionality is not guaranteed. Additionally, a small number of recently developed models are capable of estimating absolute probability of use from use-availability data, but these models require data on all resource units considered available. The modified case-control model of Lancaster and Imbens (1996, Journal of Econometrics) may be an alternative to estimating the absolute probability of use from use-availability data but has been described as difficult to implement and unstable. We first propose...
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Timing of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) nesting and peaks in gobbling activity are often used in setting spring hunting season dates. The relationship between gobbling activity, hunting pressure, and nesting chronology has not been... more
Timing of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) nesting and peaks in gobbling activity are often used in setting spring hunting season dates. The relationship between gobbling activity, hunting pressure, and nesting chronology has not been studied using hunted and nonhunted turkey populations. We tabulated gobbling activity of Merriam's turkeys (M. g. merriami) in Wind Cave National Park (nonhunted) and Black Hills