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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
1

Ecology of pronghorns on the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, Colorado

Firchow, Katherine Marie January 1986 (has links)
During January 1983 - July 1985 the population dynamics, movements, and habitat use of pronghorns (Antilocapra americana) were studied on the 1040 km² Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, in southeastern Colorado, prior to initiation of military training. Forty-seven adults and 32 fawns were radio marked; 247 adults were color collared or ear tagged only. Using aerial strip and quadrat surveys, I estimated a summer population for 1983, 1984, and 1985 of 694, 690, and 657 respectively. Adult female pregnancy rate was approximately 98%, mean litter size for females > 1.5 years was 1.9, and fetal and fawn sex ratios were not different from 1:1. Fawn mortality was 89% in 1983 and 80% in 1984. Adult mortality was 20% in 1983 and 28% in 1984. Annual rate of increase (λ) over the 2 year study was .806. Home range size of pronghorns was extremely variable within and between sexes and among seasons. Winter ranges were 2-fold and 5-fold larger than summer range for females and males, respectively. Sixty-five percent of all weekly movements were < 3 km. Females preferred open grassland in all seasons, and cholla grassland in winter. Yucca grassland was preferred in spring and fall, and cholla/open grass edges were highly preferred in all seasons. Males preferred open grassland in all seasons but winter, and preferred cholla grassland in all seasons but spring, cholla/open grass edges were also preferred in all seasons. Fawns used open grassland and cholla/open grass edges more than expected, while using woodland and shrub habitats less than expected. / M.S.

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