Journal of Wildlife Management最新文献

{"title":"Home ranges of roaming golden jackals in a European forest-agricultural landscape","authors":"Erika Csányi,&nbsp;Dorottya Gaál,&nbsp;Miklós Heltai,&nbsp;Máté Pölös,&nbsp;Gyula Sándor,&nbsp;Gergely Schally,&nbsp;József Lanszki","doi":"10.1002/jwmg.22688","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22688","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The successful European expansion of the golden jackal (<i>Canis aureus</i>) is influenced by space use and an exploration of their movement ecology may promote the application of appropriate population management. However, little is known about their home range dynamics in forest–agricultural landscapes with dense populations and high hunting pressure. We evaluated home range size variations and movement patterns of golden jackals in southwestern Hungary, focusing on sex and age differences, seasonal variability, and the prevalence of irruptive nomad behavior. Over a 2-year study, we tracked 45 global positioning system (GPS)-collared jackals (22 females and 23 males) for an average of 245 days, collecting 236,675 hourly location points. We analyzed home ranges using the 95% kernel home range method, and used trajectory segmentation to identify residents (single home range) versus non-resident or irruptive nomads (multiple home ranges or home range shifts). Residents exhibited a mean (± SE) home range size of 14.38 ± 2.27 km² (<i>n</i> = 28), with significant individual variability (up to a 100-fold difference). Males had larger home ranges than females, and juveniles had larger home ranges than adults, particularly during pup-rearing periods. The home range shifts were more frequent for juveniles than adults, and females than males, whereas sex and age did not affect home range size of irruptive nomads (<i>n</i> = 17). Jackals mostly used forests close to forest–agricultural area edges and far from artificial structures. Our data revealed high interindividual space-use variability and intra-year differences in home range sizes between sexes, and substantiated the high ecological plasticity of this species. Our results likely relate to the complex social system of golden jackals along with a dense population, high hunting pressure, absence of large carnivores, and seasonal flexibility in response to abundant food sources.</p>","PeriodicalId":17504,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Wildlife Management","volume":"89 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jwmg.22688","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143112991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Hunting Business: There's No Business Like the Hunting Business By \u0000 Greg Simons, San Angelo, Texas: THB Publications. 2023. pp. 280. $49.00 (hardback). ISBN 979-8-9877635-0-6","authors":"Romey L. Swanson","doi":"10.1002/jwmg.22682","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22682","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":17504,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Wildlife Management","volume":"89 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143112431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Density estimation using spatial capture-recapture analyses: application to vaccination of prairie dogs against sylvatic plague","authors":"Robin E. Russell,&nbsp;Daniel W. Tripp,&nbsp;Katherine L. D. Richgels,&nbsp;Tonie E. Rocke","doi":"10.1002/jwmg.22685","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22685","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Prairie dogs are notoriously difficult to enumerate, with previously methods including visual counts, mark-resight, burrow counts, and catch per unit effort. Unlike those methods, spatial capture-recapture (SCR) analyses allow for formal estimation of density along with associated estimates of uncertainty, detection probability, and the size of the average area over which an individual was detected during the study period (referred to as an activity center). Using SCR analyses, we compared density estimates as part of a field trial evaluating the effectiveness of an oral sylvatic plague vaccine in black-tailed prairie dogs (<i>Cynomys ludovicianus</i>), Gunnison's prairie dogs (<i>C. gunnisoni</i>), white-tailed prairie dogs (<i>C. leucurus</i>), and Utah prairie dogs (<i>C. parvidens</i>) at 11 study areas in the western United States. The study was designed as a matched pairs analysis that included 27 individual paired plots (54 plots), each consisting of a plot treated with vaccine baits and a plot treated with placebo baits. Overall, we captured &gt;3,000 individuals each year on these plots, and recapture rates ranged from 5–87%. For black-tailed prairie dogs, density estimates ranged from 2.7 individuals/ha (95% CI = 2.2–3.3/ha) to 77.3/ha (63.2–94.4/ha), and for Gunnison's prairie dogs, estimates ranged from 11.7/ha (10.6–12.8/ha) to 15.4/ha (14.4–16.7/ha). White-tailed prairie dogs were at their lowest density (3.3/ha, 95% CI = 2.9–3.8/ha) during the first year of the study and their highest density (14.5/ha; 13.5–15.6/ha) during the last year of the study. Utah prairie dog density estimates ranged from a low of 4.0/ha (95% CI = 3.55–4.6/ha) to a high of 20.8/ha (16.8–25.8/ha). Best-fitting models of prairie dog density indicated increasing patterns of density over time on most study plots, negative effects of plague, and positive effects of vaccination. Finally, we found low correlations between catch per unit effort estimates from previous published literature at these sites and our densities estimates. Spatial capture-recapture estimates allowed us to consistently compare treatment effects across space and time, although some exceptions are noted where we observed significant movement between plots within a pair (3 pairs) and when trapping effort between plots or years was not consistent.</p>","PeriodicalId":17504,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Wildlife Management","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142862176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Habitat suitability and relative abundance of wild boars in the east-central Tianshan Mountains, China","authors":"Zikun Gao,&nbsp;Ruifen Wang,&nbsp;Yang Yang,&nbsp;Shuyu Jin,&nbsp;Xingzhe Wang,&nbsp;Qiaoqi Sun,&nbsp;Kun Shi","doi":"10.1002/jwmg.22683","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22683","url":null,"abstract":"<p>As wild boar populations and their distribution ranges increase, human–wild boar conflicts have become increasingly prevalent in numerous regions across the globe. These conflicts have a profound impact on human livelihoods, resulting in significant economic losses. Understanding the habitat requirements and relative abundance of wild boars is crucial prior to implementing any conservation measures. However, studies on wild boar habitat and population in the central and eastern regions of the Tianshan Mountains in China are lacking. We assessed the activity patterns and relative abundance of wild boars in these areas and evaluated habitat suitability using a combination of camera trapping, line transects, species distribution modeling (maximum entropy model), and hierarchical abundance modeling (Bayesian N-mixture model). We used 311 infrared cameras and 280 field-based line transects to cover approximately 31,000 km² from September 2022 to May 2023 in the east-central Tianshan Mountains. We used 240 wild boar distribution locations and 13 environmental predictors in the development of species distribution models. We also used species counts and associated environmental predictors in the N-mixture model to estimate the relative abundance of wild boar. Wild boars were most active during crepuscular hours (1800), and relatively active in the diurnal period compared to the nocturnal period. The probability of wild boar occurrence increased with higher normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the minimum temperature of the coldest month, and annual temperatures below 39°C. Boars were most likely to be found in closed deciduous-coniferous forests. The relative abundance of wild boars was positively affected by NDVI and negatively affected by the minimum temperature of the coldest month and temperature annual range. Based on our results, we suggest areas of management priority. In particular, extensive and intact habitat with substantial wild boar populations, such as the Banfanggou, the South Mountain of Urumqi, and the Hutubi, should be prioritized for long-term wild boar population monitoring and management so the adverse impacts of increasing wild boar populations in the study region can be minimized.</p>","PeriodicalId":17504,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Wildlife Management","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142862271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Restoring historical moose densities results in fewer wolves killed for woodland caribou conservation","authors":"Michelle L. McLellan,&nbsp;Adam T. Ford,&nbsp;Dave Hervieux,&nbsp;Clayton T. Lamb,&nbsp;Mateen Hessami,&nbsp;Michael C. Bridger,&nbsp;Robert Serrouya","doi":"10.1002/jwmg.22673","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22673","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;Woodland caribou (&lt;i&gt;Rangifer tarandus caribou&lt;/i&gt;) are declining across much of their distribution in Canada in response to habitat alteration, leading to unsustainable predation, particularly by wolves (&lt;i&gt;Canis lupus&lt;/i&gt;). Habitat alteration can benefit the primary prey species of wolves (moose [&lt;i&gt;Alces alces&lt;/i&gt;] and deer [&lt;i&gt;Odocoileus&lt;/i&gt; spp.]) by creating early seral conditions that contain more of their preferred food types. This increase in primary prey populations results in elevated wolf abundance and heightened predation pressure on caribou. In response to the elevated wolf populations and the risks to caribou, managers have reduced wolf abundance in key areas. Ecological theory suggests that reducing wolf abundance would release moose from the top-down effects of wolf predation, potentially allowing moose populations to grow. Elevated moose abundance thus has the potential to cause wolf populations to rebound quickly each year following reductions, suggesting a possible link between moose abundance and the number of wolves killed for caribou conservation. To test this idea we used a unique management situation in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, where lethal wolf removals were annually conducted across specific southern mountain caribou population ranges and, in some places, moose populations were concurrently reduced via liberalized hunting. We used indices of moose abundance and wolf removal data to test the hypothesis that reducing moose populations to a historical abundance target by hunting leads to fewer wolves killed for caribou conservation. After controlling for habitat quality, wolves removed per km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; was 3.2 times lower in areas with reduced moose density (&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;math&gt;\u0000 &lt;semantics&gt;\u0000 &lt;mrow&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;mrow&gt;\u0000 &lt;mover&gt;\u0000 &lt;mi&gt;x&lt;/mi&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;mo&gt;¯&lt;/mo&gt;\u0000 &lt;/mover&gt;\u0000 &lt;/mrow&gt;\u0000 &lt;/mrow&gt;\u0000 &lt;annotation&gt; $bar{x}$&lt;/annotation&gt;\u0000 &lt;/semantics&gt;&lt;/math&gt; = 1.55 wolves/1,000 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; ± 0.33 [SE]) than in those without reduced moose density (&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;math&gt;\u0000 &lt;semantics&gt;\u0000 &lt;mrow&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;mrow&gt;\u0000 &lt;mover&gt;\u0000 &lt;mi&gt;x&lt;/mi&gt;\u0000 \u0000 &lt;mo&gt;¯&lt;/mo&gt;\u0000 &lt;/mover&gt;\u0000 &lt;/mrow&gt;\u0000 &lt;/mrow&gt;\u0000 &lt;annotation&gt; $bar{x}$&lt;/annotation&gt;\u0000 &lt;/semantics&gt;&lt;/math&gt; = 5.02 wolves/1,000 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; ± 0.52). However, the average number of wolves removed per year decreased under both conditions. After 9 years, there was a 35% reduction in the predicted difference in the annual removal between areas with and without moose reduction. Our results suggest that policies that ","PeriodicalId":17504,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Wildlife Management","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jwmg.22673","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142861969","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"No evidence hunting bait increases American black bear population growth in Maine, USA","authors":"Dana J. Morin,&nbsp;Jennifer H. Vashon,&nbsp;Matthew O'Neal,&nbsp;Nathan J. Hostetter,&nbsp;Elizabeth A. Flaherty","doi":"10.1002/jwmg.22681","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22681","url":null,"abstract":"<p>American black bear (<i>Ursus americanus</i>) populations are increasing throughout much of North America. Use of multiple harvest methods, including hunting over bait, is intended to increase harvest success rates to meet harvest and population management objectives. However, black bear population growth can be influenced by food availability, and some speculate the use of bait may inadvertently increase bear abundance through food resource supplementation. We collected hair from black bears captured from 2005–2019 and a selection of potential food items, including those used as bait from 3 study areas in Maine, USA, with different levels of human influence. We used stable isotope analysis of the black bear hair and food item samples to evaluate the contribution of different identified food groups to the diet of individual bears. We found no evidence that greater contribution of human food resources, including bait, increased the number of cubs per litter for reproductive females or that human foods comprised a greater part of the diet in years when natural food resources were less abundant. Approximately 69% of black bear harvest occurred over bait. We found the probability of reproductive-age females to be harvested increased with average representation of human foods with high carbon enrichment (including bait) in their diet, but the relationship was weak, likely because of sampling constraints. Additionally, the probability of being harvested was greater in years when natural food resources were scarce. We conclude that bait is not available on the landscape in large enough amounts or for a sufficient amount of time in Maine to substantially influence female reproduction. Our results indicate hunting over bait is an effective tool in a state that is attempting to maintain a stable bear population via harvest, and dispels conjecture that hunting over bait may increase cub production and offset the intention of harvest.</p>","PeriodicalId":17504,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Wildlife Management","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142861723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Linking summer nutrition to behavior and performance of black-tailed deer","authors":"Katrina K. Lopez,&nbsp;Katey S. Huggler,&nbsp;DeWaine H. Jackson,&nbsp;Lisa A. Shipley,&nbsp;Ryan A. Long","doi":"10.1002/jwmg.22679","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22679","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Many large-herbivore populations are regulated at least in part by bottom-up forces, and thus relationships between herbivores and their habitat are of fundamental importance to wildlife managers. Variation in nutritional resources—and how herbivores respond to that variation—influences rates of nutrient intake, which directly affect nutritional condition, pregnancy rates, timing of parturition, offspring birth mass, and survival. Accordingly, nutrition-focused research holds great potential for uncovering the mechanisms that govern population performance of large herbivores and for assessing the nature and magnitude of bottom-up limitations. We quantified relationships between the foodscape (i.e., spatiotemporal variation in forage quality and abundance) in southwestern Oregon, USA, and black-tailed deer (<i>Odocoileus hemionus columbianus</i>) behavior and performance, with a focus on the influence of maternal nutrition on fawn survival. We hypothesized that black-tailed deer performance (i.e., fawn birth mass and survival) is influenced by the availability of high-quality forage during spring and summer and patterns of foodscape use exhibited by individual deer. From 2016–2023 we monitored movement and survival of adult female black-tailed deer and their offspring. We also conducted intensive vegetation sampling and used generalized additive modeling to map the foodscape available to deer in spring and summer. Suitable forage biomass (i.e., maximum biomass of forage that together exceeded quality thresholds for supporting one fawn) was highly variable across space and time, and our top foodscape model explained 70% of the variation in suitable biomass (adjusted <i>R</i>^<i>2</i> = 0.70). We observed a strong, positive relationship between use of the foodscape by maternal females prior to parturition and fawn birth mass. Although maternal foodscape use after parturition did not influence the probability of fawn survival, survival increased with increasing birth mass. These results suggest that the effects of nutrition on fawn survival in our study system are indirectly mediated by maternal behavior (i.e., use of the foodscape) and the corresponding effects on birth mass of fawns. Our study adds to a growing body of literature supporting a fundamental link between foodscape use and population performance of large herbivores. Wildlife managers can use the dynamic models we developed to assess habitat quality and to make quantitative predictions about how different management actions (e.g., forest thinning) are likely to influence habitat quality and performance of black-tailed deer.</p>","PeriodicalId":17504,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Wildlife Management","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142861083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Muskrat occurrence in Rhode Island shows little evidence of land use change driving declines","authors":"John G. Crockett,&nbsp;Charles Brown,&nbsp;Brian D. Gerber","doi":"10.1002/jwmg.22668","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22668","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Muskrat (<i>Ondatra zibethicus</i>) populations have been in apparent decline across their native range in North America for decades. Several hypotheses exist for the causes of these declines, including loss of wetlands. We used time-to-detection data from 925 surveys from 276 sites across Rhode Island, USA, between 2021–2023 to fit an occupancy model that related the probability of muskrat occupancy at a site to land cover classification. We found that muskrat occupancy was higher in areas with more open water, urban land cover, or a second-order or larger stream, and lower in areas with salt water. We estimated changes in wetland area throughout Rhode Island using the National Land Cover Database classifications from 2001 and 2019 and found a net loss in wetland cover of 219 ha. We calculated the distance between wetland patches in each of these periods and found that patches were closer together than the dispersal distance of muskrats, suggesting isolation is unlikely to be driving muskrat declines. Additionally, when we used our model to predict changes in muskrat occupancy between 2001 and 2019, both mean and median predicted occupancy changed by &lt;0.005. These results indicate that muskrat declines are not driven by habitat loss, and suggest future research is needed that focuses on other hypothesized mechanisms of muskrat declines such as disease, declining habitat quality, predation, and competition.</p>","PeriodicalId":17504,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Wildlife Management","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142861082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Seasonality in Sonoran pronghorn survival and movement within a managed rangeland","authors":"Nicole Barbour,&nbsp;Jill Bright,&nbsp;John Hervert,&nbsp;Eliezer D. Gurarie,&nbsp;Stephanie Fuest,&nbsp;Aaron Alvidrez,&nbsp;R. Andrew Goodwin,&nbsp;Steven Su,&nbsp;Sherry Lehmuth,&nbsp;Christian W. Black,&nbsp;Christen H. Fleming,&nbsp;William F. Fagan","doi":"10.1002/jwmg.22675","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22675","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The endangered Sonoran pronghorn (<i>Antilocapra americana sonoriensis</i>) has a large portion of its range within a military operations area in southwestern Arizona, USA. Sonoran pronghorn have been actively managed in this region for more than 20 years. Recovery efforts have included release of captive-born pronghorn into areas both currently and historically occupied by wild pronghorn. These areas provide habitat for federally endangered essential and experimental non-essential, referred to as 10(j), pronghorn populations. More than 20 years of monitoring efforts have resulted in a large dataset on their spatial occurrence and movement within these areas. To synthesize long-term trends and seasonality in Sonoran pronghorn movement and mortality, we employed a suite of quantitative analyses that characterized the pronghorns' 1) individual and population-level home ranges, 2) occurrence near active military targets, 3) trends in seasonal group sizes and composition, 4) sex- and group-specific survivorship, and 5) changes in movement-based behavior following release from captivity. We found strong seasonal trends throughout, including sex-specific differences in seasonal movement rates, home ranges, survival, and group composition. Further, captive-born pronghorn released into the endangered population exhibited markedly higher survival compared to those released in 10(j) areas. Captive-born pronghorn exhibited significant seasonal use of active military target areas. These analyses, which represent the most comprehensive analysis of Sonoran pronghorn movement and survival to date, have important implications for the future conservation and management of this endangered species. Our results indicate that active management of endangered Sonoran pronghorn has successfully increased survival, and we recommend maintaining or increasing current recovery efforts, such as captive breeding and placement of supplemental resources throughout their range (e.g., freestanding water and supplemental forage), to further boost the survivorship of both wild- and captive-born pronghorn. Moreover, future management efforts could use our seasonality results to create dynamic prediction models of when and where pronghorn are likely to overlap with military activities to best manage interactions. Our methods have added application to other mobile species of conservation interest occurring in disturbed and resource-limited landscapes.</p>","PeriodicalId":17504,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Wildlife Management","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jwmg.22675","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142861094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Barn owl site occupancy and breeding success in relation to land use and nest box characteristics","authors":"Estelle Milliet,&nbsp;Kim Schalcher,&nbsp;Anna Grangier-Bijou,&nbsp;Bettina Almasi,&nbsp;Fabrizio Butera,&nbsp;Alexandre Roulin","doi":"10.1002/jwmg.22678","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.22678","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Agricultural landscapes play a crucial role in enhancing biodiversity because of their widespread presence over the Earth and their ability to encompass diverse ecosystems. Recognizing this, numerous governments are incentivizing farmers through direct payments to adopt sustainable practices, such as managing extensive pastures and meadows, planting wildflowers, or establishing hedgerows. However, the benefit of such sustainable practices on vertebrate species is not well understood. From 2018 to 2020, we investigated nest occupancy, fledging success, and clutch size of a Swiss population of barn owls (<i>Tyto alba</i>) with respect to nest box characteristics and the presence of extensive agriculture and urbanization in areas surrounding nest boxes. Our results revealed that extensively used pastures were negatively associated with site occupancy but positively associated with clutch size. The proportion of urban areas was negatively related to both site occupancy and clutch size. The altitude of the nest box location was negatively correlated with occupancy, and the number of nest boxes placed at the same site (either 1 or 2) was positively correlated with site occupancy. Moreover, clutch size, but not fledging success, was larger in nest boxes placed outside barns than in nest boxes placed inside barns. Based on these findings, we recommend installing nest boxes at locations &lt;700 m in altitude and in pairs on the same barn, incorporating biodiversity promotion areas into agricultural landscapes, and avoiding dense urban areas in favor of rural zones with lower urban density. Understanding the nuanced relationships between nest box characteristics, environmental factors, and breeding success provides valuable insights for optimizing artificial nesting sites and enhancing the overall reproductive success of barn owls.</p>","PeriodicalId":17504,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Wildlife Management","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jwmg.22678","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142861310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}