Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Processes underlying nest‐site selection are often considered drivers influencing wild turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo ssp.) nest success. Thus, decisions by females to identify nest sites should govern all other components of reproductive habitat selection as female wild turkeys will be tied to nest locations for the duration of the reproductive period. Our objective was to determine if differential selection for vegetation characteristics was occurring on the first day of egg laying. We evaluated vegetation conditions at nest sites and travel paths used by 131 female wild turkeys, monitored across Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, USA, on the first day of egg laying. We used 164 nesting attempts and measured vegetation at 37,976 locations along 492 movement paths. Average vegetation height at the nest site was met or exceeded at 61–71% of random points along travel paths, whereas visual obstruction was met or exceeded at 22–25% of random points along travel paths. We found no effect of visual obstruction on nest success (β = −0.004, SE = 0.004, P = 0.349). Our results indicate that vegetation conditions selected by wild turkeys at nest sites were generally available on the landscape transversed by female wild turkeys during nest‐site selection. Our results illustrate that adequate nesting conditions, as conventionally measured, may not be as limited across the landscape as previously assumed. We suggest that given the plasticity wild turkeys have in selection of nest sites, future research activities should reduce focus on nest‐site vegetation sampling and increase focus on how nest success may be affected by nesting female behavioral activities.
Source: Wildlife Society Bulletin
DOI: 10.1002/wsb.1626
Language: English
Topic: Avian ecology and behavior
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,200
Funders: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, University of Georgia, Louisiana State University, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Department Of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, Agricultural Center, Louisiana State University, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia
OpenAlex ID: W4416840903