Habitat Selection of American Woodcock and its Implications for Habitat Management Where Young Forests are Rare

Animals use some habitats and quit others. It is essential to examine resource which is of great interest to the animal for its survival. Distribution and habitat selection of Grey Francolin was examined in Swegali game reserve during June 2007. Twelve line transects 200 meters wide and average 3.73 kilometers long were laid down randomly for collection of data from 06h00-20h00 and observed 58 Grey francolins singly or in pairs. Distributed of Grey francolin was observed in three of the available six habitat types including woody ravines, shrub land and agricultural fields. Chi-squared test showed that Grey francolin displayed significant habitat selection and highly significant preference for woody ravines, northerly aspects and foraged in the morning and evening, a slight drag to the afternoon was also observed. The study can contribute to planning of management interventions for the study species and its preferred habitats. It might assist policy makers to devise policies pertaining to agriculture, study species and their habitats to mitigate encroachment into marginal lands for agriculture, human settlements, use of pesticides and unregulated hunting, assessment of the effects of resource use on wild populations, planning and policy decisions for habitat management and harvest levels.

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Habitat selection of Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) displaying males: Case from Rila Mountain, Bulgaria

ARPHA Conference Abstracts ◽

10.3897/aca.2.e46462 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Author(s):

Dimitar Plachiyski ◽

Georgi Popgeorgiev ◽

Stefan Avramov ◽

Yurii Kornilev

Keyword(s):

Habitat Selection ◽

Home Range ◽

Scots Pine ◽

Vegetation Cover ◽

Habitat Management ◽

Categorical Variables ◽

Tetrao Urogallus ◽

Adult Males ◽

Convex Polygons ◽

Selection Of

Current habitat management of the peripheral, regionally unique, and isolated Balkan capercaillie Tetrao urogallus rudolfi Dombrowski, 1912 meta-population in Bulgaria is based on obsolete knowledge of the spatial requirements of the species. Thus, we studied the habitat availability and the patterns of use by Capercaillie adult males, at the home range scale to inform and contribute to the conservation-oriented management of the threatened subspecies and its habitats. The field study was conducted during 2014–2015 in the northeastern part of Rila Mtn., Southwestern Bulgaria. Using GPS tags (“Bird 2A”, e-obs Digital Telemetry, Grünwald, Germany), a total of 38,640 GPS fixes from 3 displaying males, associated with one lek were gained. On this basis, we calculated annual and seasonal Minimum Convex Polygons (MCP), traditionally used as a measure of the maximum area of activity. Capercaillie habitat preference was computed using Manly’s habitat selection ratios (w), design III, combined with 90% Bonferroni simultaneous confidence intervals. To calculate habitat selection, we determined surface (Steepness and Exposure), forest stand succession and vegetation cover categorical variables. The habitat and surface layers was rasterized into 8 m square pixels. At the home range (MCP) scale, tagged roosters used vegetation cover non-randomly (annual: Khi2L=5738.89, df=14, p<0.001; winter: Khi2L=3773.28, df=13, p<0.001; summer: Khi2L=3646.32, df=14, p<0.001), and preferred forests dominated by Scots pine and Macedonian pine, such as the annual selection of Scots pine and summer selection of Macedonian pine are significantly different. In terms of forest stage succession, roosters used forest stages non-randomly (annual: Khi2L=3492.57, df=8, p<0.001; winter: Khi2L=2075.18, df=8, p<0.001; summer: Khi2L=1670.1, df=6, p<0.001), and demonstrated clear avoidance of forests stands in age classes: “0 to 40” and “41 to 80” years within the summer and annual ranges. The roosters demonstrated significant preference for southeastern exposure during the winter and annually, and significant overall avoidance of northern exposure, as well as avoidance of north-eastern aspect during the winter and south aspect during the summer (annual: Khi2L=4671.87, df=18, p<0.001; winter: Khi2L=3909.04, df=16, p<0.001; summer: hi2L=3095.84, df=18, p<0.001). The slope class “63.1 to 73o” was not used. In the summer, Capercaillie males significantly preferred slopes within the class “27.1 to 36o” and avoided the classes “0 to 9o”, “9.1 to 18o” and “54.1 to 63o”. The birds also demonstrated significant avoidance of flat terrains within the “0 to 9o” class annually (annual: Khi2L=608.24, df=17, p<0.001; winter: Khi2L=1148.37, df=16, p<0.001; summer: Khi2L=906.54, df=17, p<0.001).

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Terrestrial Activity and Habitat Selection of Eastern Mud Turtles (Kinosternon subrubrum) in a Fragmented Landscape: Implications for Habitat Management of Golf Courses and Other Suburban Environments

Copeia ◽

10.1643/ch-08-037 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 2009 (1) ◽

pp. 78-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

LeighAnne Harden ◽

StevenJ. Price ◽

MichaelE. Dorcas

Keyword(s):

Habitat Selection ◽

Habitat Management ◽

Fragmented Landscape ◽

Golf Courses ◽

Kinosternon Subrubrum ◽

Selection Of

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Seasonal habitat selection of an expanding sika deer Cervus nippon population in eastern Hokkaido, Japan

Wildlife Biology ◽

10.2981/wlb.2003.036 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 141-153 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Mayumi Sakuragi ◽

Hiromasa Igota ◽

Hiroyuki Uno ◽

Koichi Kaji ◽

Masami Kaneko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Habitat Selection ◽

Sika Deer ◽

Cervus Nippon ◽

Selection Of

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Factors of Habitat Selection of Acheulean Sites at Ramat Yiron, Israel

Paléorient ◽

10.3406/paleo.1981.4285 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 23-31 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Amiel Brosh ◽

M. Ohel

Keyword(s):

Habitat Selection ◽

Selection Of

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The Winter Habitat Selection of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) Based on a Multi-Scale Model

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani10122454 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 2454

Author(s):

Yue Sun ◽

Yanze Yu ◽

Jinhao Guo ◽

Minghai Zhang

Keyword(s):

Habitat Selection ◽

Environmental Factors ◽

Cervus Elaphus ◽

Red Deer ◽

Scale Model ◽

Winter Habitat ◽

Multi Scale ◽

Optimal Scale ◽

Scale Models ◽

Selection Of

Single-scale frameworks are often used to analyze the habitat selections of species. Research on habitat selection can be significantly improved using multi-scale models that enable greater in-depth analyses of the scale dependence between species and specific environmental factors. In this study, the winter habitat selection of red deer in the Gogostaihanwula Nature Reserve, Inner Mongolia, was studied using a multi-scale model. Each selected covariate was included in multi-scale models at their “characteristic scale”, and we used an all subsets approach and model selection framework to assess habitat selection. The results showed that: (1) Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that the response scale of red deer to environmental factors was different among different covariate. The optimal scale of the single covariate was 800–3200 m, slope (SLP), altitude (ELE), and ratio of deciduous broad-leaved forests were 800 m in large scale, except that the farmland ratio was 200 m in fine scale. The optimal scale of road density and grassland ratio is both 1600 m, and the optimal scale of net forest production capacity is 3200 m; (2) distance to forest edges, distance to cement roads, distance to villages, altitude, distance to all road, and slope of the region were the most important factors affecting winter habitat selection. The outcomes of this study indicate that future studies on the effectiveness of habitat selections will benefit from multi-scale models. In addition to increasing interpretive and predictive capabilities, multi-scale habitat selection models enhance our understanding of how species respond to their environments and contribute to the formulation of effective conservation and management strategies for ungulata.

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Habitat selection of Cape porcupines in a farmland-suburban context in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Mammalian Biology ◽

10.1016/j.mambio.2019.08.004 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 98 ◽

pp. 111-118

Author(s):

Samukelisiwe P. Ngcobo ◽

Amy-Leigh Wilson ◽

Colleen T. Downs

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Habitat Selection ◽

Kwazulu Natal ◽

Selection Of

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Mass occurrence and habitat selection of Common Redpolls (Carduelis flammea) after a large seed crop year: snow-covered ground facilitates food access

Journal of Ornithology ◽

10.1007/s10336-021-01912-x ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Svein Dale

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Habitat Selection ◽

Snow Cover ◽

Breeding Season ◽

Boreal Forests ◽

Large Seed ◽

Mass Occurrence ◽

Seed Crops ◽

Ecosystem Changes ◽

Selection Of

AbstractIn boreal forests, food supplies typically have cyclic variations, and many species here fluctuate in numbers from year to year. One group of species showing large variations in population size is birds specialized on seeds from masting trees. Here, I analyze spatial patterns of a mass occurrence and habitat selection of the Common Redpoll (Carduelis flammea) during the breeding season in southeastern Norway in 2020 after a year with large seed crops from Norway Spruce (Picea abies) and Downy Birch (Betula pubescens). I found that Common Redpoll numbers increased with elevation and towards the northwest. Numbers were also strongly and positively correlated with snow depth in early April when snow was present mainly above 400 m elevation. Sites with snow cover in early April (30% of all sites) held 96.4% of all individuals recorded. Field observations indicated that Common Redpolls foraged extensively for spruce seeds on the snow until the end of May when young were independent. I suggest that the mass occurrence was due to a unique combination of exceptionally large seed crops of two tree species coinciding in the same year. The masting produced large amounts of food both for overwintering (birch seeds) and for breeding (spruce seeds), and during the breeding season snow cover facilitated access to food resources. Dependency of Common Redpolls on snow cover suggests that climate change may negatively impact some seed-eaters in boreal regions. On the other hand, higher temperatures may induce more frequent masting which may be beneficial for seed-eaters. Thus, climate change is likely to lead to complex ecosystem changes in areas where snow cover may disappear.

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