The abundance of Rio Grande wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia) in
the southeastern Edwards Plateau of Texas has declined since the late 1970s. Because
knowledge of reproductive rates is important to understanding the dynamics of a
population, radio-tagged hens were monitored during the 2005–2007 reproductive
seasons to evaluate and compare reproductive parameters from areas with both declining
and stable population trends.
During January–March of 2005–2007, turkey hens were captured and radiotagged
on 4 study areas; 2 within a region of stable turkey populations, and 2 within a
region of declining populations. Monitoring occurred from January–July each season to
determine nest- site locations. Nesting attempts, nest fate, clutch size, initiation date,
and nest age were recorded. Nests were monitored ≥3 times weekly in order to estimate
production parameters and daily nest survival. Poults were captured by hand and fitted
with a 1.2 glue-on transmitter and monitored daily to estimate daily survival.
Estimates show production was greater in stable regions than declining regions of
the Edwards Plateau. Eighty-four percent of hens attempted to nest in the stable region and 67% attempted in the declining region. Eighteen of 102 nests were successful (≥1
egg hatched), in the stable region and 7 of 60 nests were successful in the declining
region. Nest-survival analysis showed an influence of temporal variation within years,
yet no differences in nest survival were detected between stable and declining regions.
Poult survival also showed no difference between regions.
The 2 overall objectives of this study were to determine if nesting parameters and
nest survival were limiting factors in Rio Grande wild turkey abundance in the Edwards
Plateau. Regional differences in production suggest the cause of the decline in the
southeastern portion of the Edwards Plateau could be associated with lower reproductive
output and consequently, success. Regional differences in nest survival were not
detected, thus not likely to cause differences in turkey abundance between regions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2617 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Melton, Kyle Brady |
| Contributors | Peterson, Markus J., Silvy, Nova J. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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