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Articles 91 - 120 of 2410

Full-Text Articles in Behavior and Ethology

Animal Husbandry In The 21st Century: Application Of Ecological Theory And Precision Technology To Inform Understanding Of Modern Grazing Systems, Ira Lloyd Parsons Dec 2022

Animal Husbandry In The 21st Century: Application Of Ecological Theory And Precision Technology To Inform Understanding Of Modern Grazing Systems, Ira Lloyd Parsons

Theses and Dissertations

Ruminant animals comprise the greatest proportion of herbivores around the world, provide essential ecosystem services and human consumable protein by consuming grass and human inedible dietary fiber. Herbivory pressure alters plant communities and species diversity, effectively making grazing animals ecosystem engineers in dynamic ecosystems. Development of advanced computer processing power coupled with biometric and ecosystem sensors may be employed in the internet of things framework to create an integrated information system designed to inform understanding of grazing system function and animal energy balance. Towards this end, I utilized Bos indicus / Bos taurus crossbred steers (n = 20) across two …


Examining The Relationship Between Stomiiform Fish Morphology And Their Ecological Traits, Mikayla L. Twiss Dec 2022

Examining The Relationship Between Stomiiform Fish Morphology And Their Ecological Traits, Mikayla L. Twiss

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Trait-based ecology characterizes individuals’ functional attributes to better understand and predict their interactions with other species and their environments. Utilizing morphological traits to describe functional groups has helped group species with similar ecological niches that are not necessarily taxonomically related. Within the deep-pelagic fishes, the Order Stomiiformes exhibits high morphological and species diversity, and many species undertake diel vertical migration (DVM). While the morphology and behavior of stomiiform fishes have been extensively studied and described through taxonomic assessments, the connection between their form and function regarding their DVM types, morphotypes, and daytime depth distributions is not well known. Here, three …


Insect Availability And Parental Care Behavior In A Common Bird, Cole Bourque Dec 2022

Insect Availability And Parental Care Behavior In A Common Bird, Cole Bourque

Symposium of Student Scholars

Populations of aerially insectivorous birds are declining throughout North America. Urbanization may indirectly contribute to this decline through its negative effects on populations of insects, an important food source in insectivores' diets, where low insect availability may be especially challenging for birds during breeding. How fluctuations in insect populations impact various species at higher trophic levels is an important area of current study for future conservation biology. Here, we examine whether nestling provisioning, brooding and guarding behaviors in a breeding bird—the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris)—may be altered depending on the relative insect availability in the environment. We found …


Preliminary Analysis Of The Effects Of Non-Target Supplemental Feeding On Camera Trap Captures Of Small Mammals In Central Georgia, Raena Mccown, Travis Cunningham, Alfred J. Mead Dec 2022

Preliminary Analysis Of The Effects Of Non-Target Supplemental Feeding On Camera Trap Captures Of Small Mammals In Central Georgia, Raena Mccown, Travis Cunningham, Alfred J. Mead

Georgia Journal of Science

Supplemental bird feeding is a widespread hobby throughout western culture. Although it brings joy to many people, bird feeding has been shown to have potentially negative effects on local bird populations and small mammalian species. To study the differences in local occurrence of native small mammalian species around bird feeders and in more distant settings, six camera traps were placed in a rural residential area in Putnam County, Georgia. Three cameras were placed facing bird feeders and three placed a minimum of 60 m away from the feeders. Species presence was recorded three days a week from 12:00 am Monday …


Light And Temperature Entrainment Of Two Circadian-Driven Behaviors In The Flesh Fly Sarcophaga Crassipalpis, Raven Ragsdale Dec 2022

Light And Temperature Entrainment Of Two Circadian-Driven Behaviors In The Flesh Fly Sarcophaga Crassipalpis, Raven Ragsdale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Circadian rhythms dictate the timing of both once-in-a-lifetime adult emergence (eclosion) and daily locomotor activity rhythms in the flesh fly S. crassipalpis. Light cycles are considered the primary environmental time cue (zeitgeber), but the life history of S. crassipalpis suggests that temperature cycles (thermocycles) may also play a key role. This work evaluates the efficacy of thermocycling as a zeitgeber in S. crassipalpis. We found that shifting both light and temperature cycles of sufficient amplitude affect the phasing of eclosion and locomotor activity, but result in different patterns. Additional experiments suggest greater thermocycle sensitivity during the late metamorphic …


Behavioral Ecology Of The American Alligator (Alligator Mississippiensis) In Human-Dominated Landscapes Of Coastal South Carolina, Anjelika Kidd-Weaver Dec 2022

Behavioral Ecology Of The American Alligator (Alligator Mississippiensis) In Human-Dominated Landscapes Of Coastal South Carolina, Anjelika Kidd-Weaver

All Dissertations

When wildlife habitat is developed to accommodate growing human populations, wildlife are forced to move to undisturbed landscapes or to acclimate to a novel, anthropogenic environment. In this dissertation, we investigated the behavior and ecology of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) in coastal, residential resort communities with an overarching goal of identifying behavioral patterns of alligators that can inform risk management strategies. In Chapter One, we compared the space use of male and female alligators in primarily wetland versus residential landscapes across three seasons to determine if and how space use behaviors of alligators differ. We found that …


Seasonal Patterns In Activity And Occupancy Dynamics Of The Imperiled Spotted Turtle (Clemmys Guttata), Ellery Vaughn Lassiter Dec 2022

Seasonal Patterns In Activity And Occupancy Dynamics Of The Imperiled Spotted Turtle (Clemmys Guttata), Ellery Vaughn Lassiter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wetland ecosystems are often spatially patchy across a landscape and exhibit seasonal patterns in water levels, resulting in the need for aquatic wildlife to use several different wetland patches across a season. The ecology of semi-aquatic freshwater turtles is especially complex because individuals often move among a variety of habitats to meet life history needs and these habitat requirements often differ across a season. Understanding the temporal and spatial scale in which turtles move and distribute across the landscape is vital for effective management, especially in the face of continued habitat fragmentation and climate change. Thus, we sought to understand …


Importance Of The Microhabitat And Microclimate Conditions In The Northern Gray-Cheeked Salamander (Plethodon Montanus) Across An Elevation Gradient, Trevor Chapman Dec 2022

Importance Of The Microhabitat And Microclimate Conditions In The Northern Gray-Cheeked Salamander (Plethodon Montanus) Across An Elevation Gradient, Trevor Chapman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The southern Appalachian Mountains have among the highest salamander diversity in the world, largely due to local speciation in the family Plethodontidae. Plethodontid salamanders (i.e., lungless salamanders) are particularly sensitive to habitat climate conditions due to their reliance on cutaneous respiration, and their immediate environmental conditions (microhabitat) likely influence their dispersion and activity more than the large-scale atmospheric conditions. The Northern Gray-cheeked salamander (Plethodon montanus) is restricted to high elevations in the Appalachian Mountains. Our goal was to investigate the relationship between P. montanus and its microhabitat by examining behavioral preference for climatic conditions, characterizing the microclimate with …


The Effects Of Floral And Social Information On Bumblebee Forager Learning And Memory, Avery Hume Baker Nov 2022

The Effects Of Floral And Social Information On Bumblebee Forager Learning And Memory, Avery Hume Baker

Theses

Bumblebees rely on information gathered from their environment to make the best choices they can when foraging for pollen and nectar. The type of information gathered should influence how a bee learns and remembers it, but other factors such as the size of the bee’s brain may also play a role in the learning and remembering process. While social information learned from other organisms and information gathered directly from flowers can each be used alone to improve both the efficiency with which a bee learns to forage from a flower and how accurately and how long the bee remembers these …


Visual Ecology: Sensing The Social World, Elliott P. Steele Nov 2022

Visual Ecology: Sensing The Social World, Elliott P. Steele

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Social animals, and even solitary animals, must at different points in their life actively search for and locate conspecifics within their environment, using one or multiple senses. One sense in particular, vision, can provide some of the most spatially detailed and temporally rapid information about the environment. Yet, the surrounding environment can also severely challenge animals’ abilities to find fellow conspecifics. Furthermore, once an animal successfully locates conspecifics, it must then make key decisions about when and where to enter group formations, decisions which may strongly impact their access to socially-acquired resources. Even after an animal has positioned itself within …


Ecology And Evolution Of Social Information Use, Clare T. M. Doherty Nov 2022

Ecology And Evolution Of Social Information Use, Clare T. M. Doherty

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Sociality is a strategy many animals employ to cope with their environments, enabling them to survive and reproduce more successfully than would otherwise be possible. When navigating their environments and making decisions, social individuals often use information provided by conspecifics (in the form of social cues and signals), thereby increasing the scope and reliability of the information they can gather. However, social information use may be influenced by many factors, including key differences in context across the physical and social environment. My thesis asks and answers a series of questions regarding the trade-offs in social information use across different contexts, …


Effects Of The Brain Nonapeptides Arginine-Vasotocin And Isotocin On Shoaling Behaviour In The Guppy (Poecilia Reticulata), Babak Ataei Mehr Oct 2022

Effects Of The Brain Nonapeptides Arginine-Vasotocin And Isotocin On Shoaling Behaviour In The Guppy (Poecilia Reticulata), Babak Ataei Mehr

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Brain nonapeptides have been suggested to regulate social behaviours. However, the contribution of Arginine-Vasotocin (AVT) and Isotocin (IT) to social behaviour in fishes is not well-characterized. Using the guppy (Poecilia reticulata), I first measured association preference for conspecifics in individuals injected with either AVT, an AVT-antagonist, or saline. The time spent associating with conspecifics did not differ significantly among the injection treatments. However, individuals injected with AVT performed more movement among areas of the tank than individuals injected with either the AVT-antagonist or saline, consistent with an effect of AVT on anxiety-related behaviours (i.e. hyperactivity). Second, I measured …


Importance And Winter Ornithological Value Of Lake El-Golea (Ghardaïa, Algerian Sahara, Biad Radhia, Bounab Choayb, Guergueb El Yamine, Biad Mohamed Fetheddine, Houhamdi Moussa Sep 2022

Importance And Winter Ornithological Value Of Lake El-Golea (Ghardaïa, Algerian Sahara, Biad Radhia, Bounab Choayb, Guergueb El Yamine, Biad Mohamed Fetheddine, Houhamdi Moussa

Journal of Bioresource Management

This study is carried out on two winter period (2018-2019 and 2019-2020) in Lake El-Golea (Ghardaïa, northern Sahara of Algeria). Its objective is to determine the ornithological value of this lake and to in ferits importance in maintaining aquatic avifauna during the winter season. This inventory shows a diversity equivalent to forty-one species belonging to thirteen families and nine orders of which eighteen are protected by various Algerian and international laws. The most represented family is that of the Anatidae with twelve species while the family with the highest number is that of the Phenicopteridae represented only by one species, …


Full Issue, Frank R. Thompson Iii Sep 2022

Full Issue, Frank R. Thompson Iii

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

No abstract provided.


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 …


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 …


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 …


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 …


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 …


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 …


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 …


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 …


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 …


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 …


Histopathological Analysis Of Quails In The Trans-Pecos Ecoregion Of Texas, Trey E. Johnson, Carlos E. Gonzalez, Dale Rollins, Josh G. Cross, Ryan S. Luna Sep 2022

Histopathological Analysis Of Quails In The Trans-Pecos Ecoregion Of Texas, Trey E. Johnson, Carlos E. Gonzalez, Dale Rollins, Josh G. Cross, Ryan S. Luna

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Quail populations in Texas, USA, have declined over the past few decades due primarily to habitat loss. The role that parasites may play in such declines has been a recent topic of concern. To help address this question, we collected 12 scaled quail (Callipepla squamata), 8 Gambel’s quail (Callipepla gambelii), and 3 Montezuma quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae) from across the Trans-Pecos ecoregion of Texas via hunter harvest, funnel traps, and night netting. Quail samples were necropsied to determine the abundance of eyeworms (Oxyspirura petrowi). Histopathological analyses were conducted on quail eyeballs and periocular …


Analysis Of Predator Avoidance Behavior In California Valley Quail, Curt Vandenberg, Jeffrey G. Whitt, Kelly S. Reyna Sep 2022

Analysis Of Predator Avoidance Behavior In California Valley Quail, Curt Vandenberg, Jeffrey G. Whitt, Kelly S. Reyna

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Quail populations have been in decline across the United States, primarily due to habitat loss and climate. For remedy, landowners and game managers have attempted to restore populations by releasing captive-reared quail. These releases were largely unsuccessful, presumably due to high predation losses. Recently, there has been an increased interest in quail translocations, which tend to have lower mortality rates than captive-reared bird releases. Translocations are expensive and unpredictable, and require many person-hours; releasing captive-reared quail would be more efficient if the practice were successful. We compared predator avoidance behavior between captive-reared and wild-translocated California quail (Callipepla californica) …


Winter Diet Of Montezuma Quail In Arizona And New Mexico, Oscar E. López-Bujanda, Alberto Macías-Duarte, Reyna A. Castillo-Gámez, Angel B. Montoya Sep 2022

Winter Diet Of Montezuma Quail In Arizona And New Mexico, Oscar E. López-Bujanda, Alberto Macías-Duarte, Reyna A. Castillo-Gámez, Angel B. Montoya

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Investigating the diet composition of Montezuma quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae) is fundamental for unveiling how food resources limit the species’ population size and may provide relevant tools for their harvest and habitat management. The objective of this research was to determine the composition and geographic variation of the winter diet of the Montezuma quail in Arizona and New Mexico, USA, from quail crops harvested during the hunting seasons of 2008–2017. In addition, we used beta regression analyses to determine the effect of environmental factors and ecological variables (annual mean precipitation, annual mean temperature, landscape diversity, diet diversity, time of …


Habitat Of The Long-Tailed Wood-Partridge In Central Mexico, David García-Solózano, Crisma Lopez-Sanchez, Edgardo Lopez-González, Carlos González-Rebeles Islas Sep 2022

Habitat Of The Long-Tailed Wood-Partridge In Central Mexico, David García-Solózano, Crisma Lopez-Sanchez, Edgardo Lopez-González, Carlos González-Rebeles Islas

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The long-tailed wood-partridge (Dendrortyx macroura; hereafter, wood-partridge) is a forest quail endemic to the temperate forests of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt of central Mexico and is considered threatened according to the Secretariat of the Environment of Mexico. We studied 34 sites within the Natural Resources Protection Area River Basins of the Valle de Bravo, Malacatepec, Tilostoc and Temascaltepec in central Mexico to evaluate wood-partridge habitat during September–December 2019. We evaluated attributes of tree, shrub, and herbaceous vegetation, canopy cover, humidity, slope, and altitude. We also identified vegetation used for nesting, food, and shelter. The scant information published for …


Age, Sex And Family Composition Of Montezuma Quail (Cyrtonyx Montezumae) Coveys In Arizona, New Mexico, And Texas, Alberto Macias-Duarte, Angel B. Montoya Sep 2022

Age, Sex And Family Composition Of Montezuma Quail (Cyrtonyx Montezumae) Coveys In Arizona, New Mexico, And Texas, Alberto Macias-Duarte, Angel B. Montoya

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

The Montezuma quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae) is a popular game bird in Arizona and New Mexico, USA, but hunting seasons remain closed in Texas, USA. Estimates of age structure parameters and sex ratios in game birds are essential information for predicting population trajectories and developing sustainable harvest and conservation strategies. Montezuma quail form coveys during the winter as a behavioral strategy for improved survival. In this regard, we harvested 1–4 individuals from 112 Montezuma quail coveys in Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas from 2009 through 2020 to estimate sex and age composition (juvenile vs. adults) of coveys. We …


Nesting Of Montezuma Quail In Mexico, David García-Solózano, Carlos González-Rebeles Islas, German D. Mendoza Martínez, Ernesto Ávila González, Fidel Hernández Sep 2022

Nesting Of Montezuma Quail In Mexico, David García-Solózano, Carlos González-Rebeles Islas, German D. Mendoza Martínez, Ernesto Ávila González, Fidel Hernández

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Although Mexico has the greatest diversity of quail of any New World country, basic information on the ecology and life history of Mexican quails remains unknown. Our objective was to describe nest characteristics of the Montezuma quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae montezumae) in central Mexico. We searched for Montezuma quail nests within 8 counties in the state of México, Mexico during May–September 2003. We conducted nest searches along 66 transects (3–5 km × 40 m) distributed across 17 study sites. We recorded vegetation community, elevation, and nesting substrate for each nest. We measured nest characteristics: height, depth, nest entrance diameter, …