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University of Tennessee, Knoxville

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Articles 1 - 30 of 454

Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Reproductive Characteristics Of The Stripetail Darter (Etheostoma Kennicotti) Relative To Monogenean Gill Parasite Infection In Estill Fork In North Alabama, Joy L. Garcia, Zeina Celine Sleiman, Corinne N. Preacher, Bruce Stallsmith Apr 2024

Reproductive Characteristics Of The Stripetail Darter (Etheostoma Kennicotti) Relative To Monogenean Gill Parasite Infection In Estill Fork In North Alabama, Joy L. Garcia, Zeina Celine Sleiman, Corinne N. Preacher, Bruce Stallsmith

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

What relationship exists between Aethycteron sp. gill parasite infection and the reproductive characteristics of stripetail darters, Etheostoma kennicotti? 450 E. kennicotti were collected over 11 months from Estill Fork in Jackson County, Alabama. Gonads were removed and photographed. All oocytes were counted and then classified into one of four developmental stages based on size and appearance. Gill parasites belonging to the monogenean genus Aethycteron were excised, photographed, and counted. Sexual dimorphism in length and mass was observed in E. kennicotti. The number of males found at the 25> mm SL range far outnumbered the females while almost all …

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Discovery Of An Introduced Florida Flagfish (Jordanella Floridae) Population In Coastal Mississippi, Robert Ellwanger, Samuel E. Hunt, Calvin R. Rezac, Matthew D. Wagner Aug 2023

Discovery Of An Introduced Florida Flagfish (Jordanella Floridae) Population In Coastal Mississippi, Robert Ellwanger, Samuel E. Hunt, Calvin R. Rezac, Matthew D. Wagner

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

The recent discovery of Jordanella floridae (Florida Flagfish) in Harrison County, Mississippi represents the first known occurrence of the species in the state. Native along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of Florida from Jacksonville to Tallahassee, this species has been introduced outside of its range via aquarium introductions. We hypothesize that an aquarium introduction was also the source of the newly discovered population, which has persisted at the location since 2020. Multiple collections of the species have been taken from a small waterbody which has a direct connection to the Tchoutacabouffa River (25mm-47mm TL). While it is unknown if this …

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Population Abundance And Growth Of Elk (Cervus Canadensis) In Western North Carolina, Jessica Braunstein Aug 2023

Population Abundance And Growth Of Elk (Cervus Canadensis) In Western North Carolina, Jessica Braunstein

Doctoral Dissertations

In an effort to restore extirpated elk to their previous range, 52 elk were reintroduced to Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) in North Carolina during 2001 and 2002. Since their reintroduction, elk numbers have increased and their range has extended beyond GRSM boundaries. My primary research objectives included estimating population abundance, apparent survival, per capita recruitment, and population growth rate of elk in North Carolina. I used spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) models based on fecal DNA to identify individual elk and estimate population abundance and growth in the region. Technicians and I walked a series of transects throughout the …

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Aspects Of Distribution, Abundance, Habitat, And Life History Of The Caddo Madtom (Noturus Taylori), A Narrow Endemic Of The Ouachita Highlands, Brittany L. Mccall, Brook L. Fluker May 2023

Aspects Of Distribution, Abundance, Habitat, And Life History Of The Caddo Madtom (Noturus Taylori), A Narrow Endemic Of The Ouachita Highlands, Brittany L. Mccall, Brook L. Fluker

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

The Caddo Madtom, Noturus taylori, is a small catfish endemic to the Ouachita Mountain ecoregion in Arkansas, with habitat altered by land use practices and reservoir dams. We examined aspects of distribution, abundance, habitat, and life history of N. taylori during seasonal sampling from winter 2016 through fall 2017. Our sampling data were concordant with previous studies that suggested N. taylori is more widespread and has higher catch per unit effort in the Caddo River drainage when compared to the upper Ouachita River drainage. We did not detect N. taylori in the Little Missouri River drainage, where it is …

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Are Fungal Endophytes Of Fire Adapted Plants Also Fire Adapted?, Alexander C. Dowd May 2023

Are Fungal Endophytes Of Fire Adapted Plants Also Fire Adapted?, Alexander C. Dowd

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

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Brown People, Green Spaces: Colonial Imaginaries And The Whiteness Of Nature, Jeffrey Michael Desalu May 2023

Brown People, Green Spaces: Colonial Imaginaries And The Whiteness Of Nature, Jeffrey Michael Desalu

Masters Theses

For several years, conversations about the absence of racial and ethnic diversity in ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB) and the conservation movement have been growing in scope. Critics argue that the overwhelmingly white demography of EEB departments and conservation organizations deprive both of a necessary diversity of perspective and, more importantly, deprive people of color and other minoritized groups of a voice in the study of and advocacy for their lived environments. Here, I situate the current conversations in historical context, arguing that the current lack of diversity is in part a reflection of the material and ideological bases for …

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Communication Distance Predicts Territory Size For An Urban Songbird, Ruth A. Simberloff May 2023

Communication Distance Predicts Territory Size For An Urban Songbird, Ruth A. Simberloff

Masters Theses

Many studies demonstrate that urban noise interferes with animal communication by masking acoustic signals such as birdsong, but the functional consequences of impaired communication are still not well understood. Although many bird species sing at higher amplitude in noise pollution, communication distance is still reduced in noisy urban soundscapes. Song is a long-distance signal that functions to attract a mate and defend a territory, so a reduction in communication distance could negatively influence a male’s reproductive or competitive success. Reduced territorial success could manifest as more frequent territorial intrusions, reduced territory quality, or reduced territory size. We examined the relationship …

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Morphological Differences Align With Habitat Partitioning Among Three Species Of Percina (Percidae: Actinopterygii) In The Roanoke River, Virginia, Michael M. Calvert, Steven L. Powers Mar 2023

Morphological Differences Align With Habitat Partitioning Among Three Species Of Percina (Percidae: Actinopterygii) In The Roanoke River, Virginia, Michael M. Calvert, Steven L. Powers

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

The upper Roanoke River has three species of Percina (P. nevisense, Chainback Darter; P. roanoka, Roanoke Darter; and P. rex, Roanoke Logperch). Resource partitioning appears to be a key component of maintaining diverse fish assemblages with habitat and food partitioning cited as especially important in communities containing members of the same family. Some aspects of the diets of these species have been documented in the literature with only modest differences among them. Microhabitat data for adults of these species have also been published revealing differences in habitat occupied by each with P. roanoka living in the fastest, shallowest …

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A Comparison Of Seasonal Reproductive Pattern In Two Sympatric Darters Of The Simoperca Clade, Etheostoma Duryi And Etheostoma Simoterum, Tiffany Bell, Elizabeth Cantrell, Bruce Stallsmith Dec 2022

A Comparison Of Seasonal Reproductive Pattern In Two Sympatric Darters Of The Simoperca Clade, Etheostoma Duryi And Etheostoma Simoterum, Tiffany Bell, Elizabeth Cantrell, Bruce Stallsmith

Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings

We present results from an examination of the seasonal reproductive patterns of two closely related sympatric darter species of the Simoperca clade, Etheostoma duryi and Etheostoma simoterum. Most members of the genus Etheostoma exhibit striking sexual dimorphism, making reproductive strategy a logical point of study. Monthly collections of specimens over a one-year period were performed at a single site on the Flint River near Huntsville, Alabama. Standard length and gross somatic mass were measured for all individuals. Sex ratio was examined for possible skew. Measures of reproductive effort were monthly means of gonadosomatic index of both sexes, total oocyte count, …

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Water Availability As A Cross-Scale Driver Of Microbial Functions And Free Viral Abundance In Soil, Aubrey K. Fine Dec 2022

Water Availability As A Cross-Scale Driver Of Microbial Functions And Free Viral Abundance In Soil, Aubrey K. Fine

Doctoral Dissertations

Viral infection is widespread in natural microbial communities, with extensive study in aquatic ecosystems demonstrating direct influence on host physiology, functional activity, and mortality. While similar dynamics are assumed to occur across ecosystems, soils are distinct microbial habitats where soil physiochemical structure and water availability constrain resource availability. These unique environmental conditions have been widely demonstrated to affect microbial distribution, diversity, and functional activity in bulk soil, while their influence on virus-microbe interactions and free viral abundance remains limited. To address this knowledge gap, this research had three broad aims: i) to investigate variability in microbial responses to drying-rewetting cycles …

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Sphenoidal Sinuses And Spherical Harmonics: Variation And Covariation Of The Most Morphologically Diverse And Least Understood Paranasal Sinus, Katharine Grace Josephine Ryan Dec 2022

Sphenoidal Sinuses And Spherical Harmonics: Variation And Covariation Of The Most Morphologically Diverse And Least Understood Paranasal Sinus, Katharine Grace Josephine Ryan

Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding the shape variation of the human sphenoidal sinus is important to several areas of research. This includes clinical investigation (sinus pathology and safe endoscopic endonasal surgical practice) and paranasal sinus evolution (for which there is still no consensus). Yet, the sphenoidal sinus has high morphological variation, prohibiting its quantification through traditional geometric morphometric landmarking methods. The sphenoid body, and thus also the sinus contained within, is located directly at the developmental center of the basicranium in humans, where the three cranial fossae meet at the midline, and adjacent to the three synchondroses which are the sites of cranial base …

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Full Issue, Frank R. Thompson Iii Sep 2022

Full Issue, Frank R. Thompson Iii

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

No abstract provided.

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The Evolution Of Quail Research: Trends In Themes, Cognitive Extent, And Lexical Diversity, Fidel Hernández Sep 2022

The Evolution Of Quail Research: Trends In Themes, Cognitive Extent, And Lexical Diversity, Fidel Hernández

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Language is an interesting characteristic that is unique to humans. Language represents a method of human communication and is believed to reflect a person’s view of reality (Kramsch 2004). The words used by a person or a community provide insight into the ideas, concepts, and worldview held by people (Pennebaker et al. 2003). In science, publications represent a primary form of communication of ideas among scientists. Publications provide a historical record of a discipline and reflect the relative interest of a scientific community in particular concepts during a given era (Kim et al. 2018). Consequently, how word use in publications …

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Effects Of Climate Change On Northern Bobwhite Nesting Chronology And Clutch Size, Justin A. Rectenwald, D. Clay Sisson, James A. Martin Sep 2022

Effects Of Climate Change On Northern Bobwhite Nesting Chronology And Clutch Size, Justin A. Rectenwald, D. Clay Sisson, James A. Martin

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Widespread changes to breeding bird phenology in response to climate change have been apparent in North America for several decades. While the impact of an earlier breeding season may be minimal by itself, changes in community-level interactions can be greatly influenced because of varying responses to climate change in different trophic levels. Climate change has been shown to alter the onset of breeding season and chick survival, and lead to population declines for game birds in high latitudes, at high elevations, and on the periphery of their range. The topic of climate change in relation to northern bobwhite (Colinus …

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Examining A Habitat-Weather Threshold For Northern Bobwhite Populations In The Southwestern United States, John T. Edwards, Fidel Hernández, Andrea Montalvo, Masahiro Ohnishi Sep 2022

Examining A Habitat-Weather Threshold For Northern Bobwhite Populations In The Southwestern United States, John T. Edwards, Fidel Hernández, Andrea Montalvo, Masahiro Ohnishi

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

In semiarid portions of the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) geographic distribution, weather is a strong driver of interannual abundance. However, the strength of this relationship may depend on habitat amount. Given this habitat–weather dependence, there is likely to be a threshold value for habitat that determines how strongly a bobwhite population responds to weather. Our objective was to evaluate the relationship between habitat amount and the relative influence of weather on bobwhite abundance in Texas and Oklahoma, USA and determine a potential land-cover threshold value. We collected bobwhite abundance and land-cover data from the Breeding Bird …

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Climate Impacts On North American Quail, Shelby M. Perry, Erin Moser, Jeffrey G. Whitt, Kelly S. Reyna Sep 2022

Climate Impacts On North American Quail, Shelby M. Perry, Erin Moser, Jeffrey G. Whitt, Kelly S. Reyna

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

North America’s quail population trends are often linked to regional climate. Extreme climate events such as severe drought, hard freezes, or excessive winter precipitation can reduce quail populations by as much as 84%. Above-average spring and summer temperatures coincident with drought can reduce the laying season for quail by ≤60 days. Exposure of quail eggs to high temperatures during preincubation can initiate and alter embryonic development. Here, we review the impacts of extreme climate events and a changing climate on the survival, reproduction, and population trends of 6 North American quail species: California quail (Callipepla californica), Gambel’s quail …

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Northern Bobwhite Response To Control Of Red Imported Fire Ants In The Gulf Coast Prairie Of Texas, Kelly M. Redmond, Eric D. Grahmann, Fidel Hernández, Leonard A. Brennan, Michael E. Morrow, Timothy Anderson Sep 2022

Northern Bobwhite Response To Control Of Red Imported Fire Ants In The Gulf Coast Prairie Of Texas, Kelly M. Redmond, Eric D. Grahmann, Fidel Hernández, Leonard A. Brennan, Michael E. Morrow, Timothy Anderson

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The population decline of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) on the Texas Gulf Coast Prairie, USA is largely attributed to habitat loss. However, red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) occur throughout the region and are considered a possible contributing factor to the bobwhite decline. The objectives of our study were to determine the influence of red imported fire ants on bobwhites by comparing bobwhite nest success, survival, and density between sites treated with fire ant bait (treatment) and reference (control) sites. Our study was conducted on 3 private ranches in Goliad and Refugio counties, Texas. …

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Northern Bobwhite And Fire: A Review And Synthesis, David A. Weber, Evan P. Tanner, Theron M. Terhune Ii, J. Morgan Varner, James A. Martin Sep 2022

Northern Bobwhite And Fire: A Review And Synthesis, David A. Weber, Evan P. Tanner, Theron M. Terhune Ii, J. Morgan Varner, James A. Martin

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Our understanding of the relationship between northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) and fire began with Herbert Stoddard’s work in the early 20th century. Research on the topic has continued, but our application of fire is deeply rooted in Stoddard’s work, even as it has become evident that fire regimes must be adapted to variable environmental conditions that are evolving with a changing landscape and climate. A comprehensive review and synthesis of the literature on this topic would help formalize research advancements since Stoddard and identify knowledge gaps for future research. Results from experiments suggest fire creates favorable …

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Bobwhite Response To Cattle Grazing In South Texas, Bradley K. Johnston, J. Alfonso Ortega-S., Leonard A. Brennan, Fidel Hernández, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso Sep 2022

Bobwhite Response To Cattle Grazing In South Texas, Bradley K. Johnston, J. Alfonso Ortega-S., Leonard A. Brennan, Fidel Hernández, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Range management practices to improve habitat for wildlife by reducing brush and increasing herbaceous plants, coupled with reduced stocking rates, can lead to dense stands of dominant grasses, such as four-flower trichloris (Trichloris pluriflora). This monoculture of trichloris creates dense vegetation unsuitable for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite), reduces plant species diversity, and alters ecosystem functions. The objectives of this study are to 1) evaluate the effects of a proper cattle grazing regime to improve bobwhite habitat and 2) develop a management guide documenting how cattle grazing can be used as a tool to reduce …

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Northern Bobwhite Response To Vegetation Management And Recovery In South Texas, Rachel A. Smith, Leonard A. Brennan, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso, Fidel Hernández Sep 2022

Northern Bobwhite Response To Vegetation Management And Recovery In South Texas, Rachel A. Smith, Leonard A. Brennan, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso, Fidel Hernández

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) requires habitat structure and composition with grass cover for nesting, predator avoidance, and thermal refuge and forb cover for feeding on phytophagous arthropods and seeds. During the past 2 decades, many land managers with interest in promoting quail hunting opportunities have reduced or completely eliminated livestock across South Texas, USA, rangelands. Resting the land from grazing allows vegetation—especially grasses and forbs—to recover and thus provide nesting and foraging habitat for bobwhite and other birds. How bobwhite respond to postgrazing vegetation recovery is of keen interest to rangeland quail managers, but this …

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Efficacy Of A Preemergence Herbicide Following Postemergence Control To Reduce Sericea Lespedeza In Old Fields Managed For Northern Bobwhite, Mark A. Turner, Bonner L. Powell, Craig A. Harper Sep 2022

Efficacy Of A Preemergence Herbicide Following Postemergence Control To Reduce Sericea Lespedeza In Old Fields Managed For Northern Bobwhite, Mark A. Turner, Bonner L. Powell, Craig A. Harper

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata; hereafter, sericea) is a nonnative forb that commonly invades sites managed for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite). Sericea can reduce habitat quality for bobwhite as it outcompetes native plants that provide forage and cover. Bobwhite eat sericea seed, but seed are relatively indigestible and may limit nutrition intake and reduce the fecundity rate. Postemergence herbicides, including glyphosate, triclopyr, and fluroxypyr+triclopyr, control standing sericea, but do not provide preemergence control, which would increase long-term control because sericea annually produces large amounts of hard seed with high dormancy rates. Imazapic is labeled to …

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A Simulation Model Of Sustained-Yield Harvest For Northern Bobwhite In South Texas, Joseph P. Sands, Stephen J. Demaso, Fidel Hernández, Leonard A. Brennan, Matthew J. Schnupp, Trent W. Teinert, Dale Rollins, Robert M. Perez Sep 2022

A Simulation Model Of Sustained-Yield Harvest For Northern Bobwhite In South Texas, Joseph P. Sands, Stephen J. Demaso, Fidel Hernández, Leonard A. Brennan, Matthew J. Schnupp, Trent W. Teinert, Dale Rollins, Robert M. Perez

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Recommended sustainable harvest rates for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) vary greatly and range from 25% to 70% of the prehunt population. Because northern bobwhite populations have declined across their geographic range, determining sustainable harvest levels is critical for effective management. Our objectives were to use simulation modeling to identify sustainable rates of bobwhite harvest, probability of population persistence, and minimum viable population estimates. We also conducted a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the impacts of harvest on northern bobwhite populations in Texas, USA. We constructed a simulation model using Program STELLA 9.0 for a hypothetical northern bobwhite population on …

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Spatial And Temporal Analyses Of Bobwhite Hunting Dynamics, D.Abraham Woodard, Leonard A. Brennan, Fidel Hernández, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso, Neal Wilkins Sep 2022

Spatial And Temporal Analyses Of Bobwhite Hunting Dynamics, D.Abraham Woodard, Leonard A. Brennan, Fidel Hernández, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso, Neal Wilkins

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

A variety of factors influence the harvest of northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) and where that harvest occurs on a landscape. Many of these factors can be quantified and manipulated to distribute harvest pressure across time and space to meet desired spring densities. We collected spatial hunting metrics using global positioning system units on trucks and hunting dogs, along with detailed hunting logs from 211 quail hunts during the 2018–2019, 2019–2020, and 2020–2021 statewide hunting seasons in Jim Hogg County, Texas, USA. We found that hunting parties effectively covered 23.8 ± 0.3 hectares per hour, with hunts lasting 3.5 …

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Evaluating The Harvest Rate Recommendation For Northern Bobwhites In South Texas, D. Abraham Woodard, Leonard A. Brennan, Fidel Hernández, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso, Neal Wilkins, Andrea Montalvo Sep 2022

Evaluating The Harvest Rate Recommendation For Northern Bobwhites In South Texas, D. Abraham Woodard, Leonard A. Brennan, Fidel Hernández, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso, Neal Wilkins, Andrea Montalvo

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The current harvest rate recommendation for northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) in South Texas, USA is 20% of the autumn population, including crippling loss. This recommendation is based on population simulations of empirical data. We completed the first field evaluation of the 20% harvest recommendation by comparing prehunting and posthunting bobwhite density estimates on a hunted and nonhunted site in South Texas during the 2018–2019, 2019–2020, and 2020–2021 statewide bobwhite hunting seasons in Jim Hogg County, Texas. We conducted line-transect distance sampling surveys on 4 occasions per year (early November, mid-December, late January, early March) from a …

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Evaluation Of A Solar-Recharged Micro-Gps Datalogger For Northern Bobwhite In The Rolling Plains Of Texas, Byron R. Buckley, Rowdy A. White, C. Brad Dabbert Sep 2022

Evaluation Of A Solar-Recharged Micro-Gps Datalogger For Northern Bobwhite In The Rolling Plains Of Texas, Byron R. Buckley, Rowdy A. White, C. Brad Dabbert

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) transmitters on northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) could increase our understanding of fine-scale movements and habitat use for a declining game bird species. We evaluated solar-recharged micro-GPS dataloggers to determine the effectiveness of the units on free-ranging bobwhite and we conducted a controlled experiment to determine the accuracy of the dataloggers under a variety of canopy cover. We deployed the micro-GPS dataloggers on 25 bobwhites between August 2016 and April 2017 across 4 different ranches in the Rolling Plains of West Texas, USA. Accuracy (± standard error) for the 8 …

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Estimating Northern Bobwhite Density In Privately-Owned Forests Across The Southeast, John M. Yeiser, Bridgett Costanzo, Melissa Martin, Jessica Mcguire, Clayton Delancey, James A. Martin Sep 2022

Estimating Northern Bobwhite Density In Privately-Owned Forests Across The Southeast, John M. Yeiser, Bridgett Costanzo, Melissa Martin, Jessica Mcguire, Clayton Delancey, James A. Martin

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Rigorous density estimates can inform management, conservation planning, and policy decisions. Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) populations are declining throughout their range, including the southeastern United States. Numerous private land conservation initiatives are underway to restore bobwhite populations in these areas, but baseline estimates of density spanning privately owned forests are sparse. This information gap makes it difficult to evaluate the population-level effects of these conservation programs or develop expectations for timelines to reach population targets. We sought to understand baseline densities across privately owned pine forests in the southeastern United States in areas targeted for bobwhite …

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The Efficacy Of Video Cameras To Account For Northern Bobwhites Flushed, But Undetected During Aerial Surveys, Andrea Montalvo, Leonard A. Brennan, Michael L. Morrison, Eric D. Grahmann, Andrew N. Tri Sep 2022

The Efficacy Of Video Cameras To Account For Northern Bobwhites Flushed, But Undetected During Aerial Surveys, Andrea Montalvo, Leonard A. Brennan, Michael L. Morrison, Eric D. Grahmann, Andrew N. Tri

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Over the past 20 years, conventional distance sampling from a helicopter platform has been used to estimate northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) density over large areas of rangeland vegetation. However, it has been speculated that aerial surveys can complicate the ability to meet the distance sampling assumption of detecting 100% of the target objects on the transect line due to the restricted observer view from the helicopter. We attempted to use video cameras to determine whether missed detections occurred and whether digital methods could improve the precision of bobwhite density estimates. Our objectives were to 1) determine …

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Relationships Between Meteorological And Other Variables And Bobwhite Spring Call Counts, Jeffrey G. Whitt, Kelly S. Reyna Sep 2022

Relationships Between Meteorological And Other Variables And Bobwhite Spring Call Counts, Jeffrey G. Whitt, Kelly S. Reyna

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Accurate assessment of quail population trends is critical to the success of future conservation efforts. Financial considerations and time constraints often limit population trend estimates to indices, the most common of which are spring call counts and autumn covey counts. While all indices have limitations and caveats, spring call count data specifically possess variability that makes them ill-suited for detecting fine-scale trends. However, because spring call counts record calling males and are relatively easy to conduct, they are assumed to represent an index of breeding potential and produce the most data per unit cost. Here, we examine their variability, comparing …

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Detection Rates Of Northern Bobwhite Coveys Using A Small Unmanned Aerial System-Mounted Thermal Camera, Megan E. Martin, Lori A. Hearon, Kristine O. Evans, Raymond B. Iglay, Jesse I. Morrison, Mark D. Mcconnell Sep 2022

Detection Rates Of Northern Bobwhite Coveys Using A Small Unmanned Aerial System-Mounted Thermal Camera, Megan E. Martin, Lori A. Hearon, Kristine O. Evans, Raymond B. Iglay, Jesse I. Morrison, Mark D. Mcconnell

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) requires intensive monitoring to evaluate management efforts and determine harvest rates. However, traditional monitoring techniques (e.g., covey-call surveys) are labor-intensive and imprecise. Small unmanned aerial systems (sUASs) mounted with thermal cameras have demonstrated promise for monitoring multiple avian species and could provide a less intensive and more effective approach to monitoring bobwhite coveys, assuming coveys produce a recognizable heat signature. To assess sUAS monitoring, we evaluated the influence of bobwhite covey size (3, 6, and 12) and cover type (grass, shrub, and forest) on covey detectability by a sUAS equipped with …

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Applying Multistate Mark-Recapture Models With State Uncertainty To Estimate Survival And Reproduction Of Quail, Rebekah E. Ruzicka Sep 2022

Applying Multistate Mark-Recapture Models With State Uncertainty To Estimate Survival And Reproduction Of Quail, Rebekah E. Ruzicka

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Obtaining unbiased estimates of vital rates and understanding how vital rates change in response to environmental stimuli are a continual pursuit of ecologists. Multistate mark-recapture (MSMR) models provide a flexible framework for evaluating dependent vital rates in a comprehensive analysis. For example, a bird must remain alive during breeding season to initiate a nest (i.e., transition from a nonbreeding to a breeding state); thus, the probability that a bird initiates a nest is dependent on the probability that it is still alive. Traditional MSMR models allow only for the estimation of survival, detection, and state transition parameters and depend on …

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