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Book Fawn Survival Cause specific Mortality and Bed site Selection of White tailed Deer and Mule Deer in Western Kansas

Download or read book Fawn Survival Cause specific Mortality and Bed site Selection of White tailed Deer and Mule Deer in Western Kansas written by Mitchell J. Kern and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and white-tailed deer (O. virginianus) are common sympatric deer species in the Great Plains and western United States that have exhibited divergent population trends temporally and spatially. Mule deer populations are declining and contracting to the west while white-tailed deer populations are expanding. Species-specific differences in fawn recruitment is one proposed explanation for these observed trends, although the underlying causes remain unknown. To determine if landscape or other habitat changes are affecting the two deer species in different ways, we studied bed-site selection of mule deer and white-tailed deer fawns in western Kansas at microhabitat and landscape scales. We also assessed how fawn intrinsic factors, doe maternal condition, and bed-site habitat characteristics influenced survival of mule deer and white-tailed deer fawns. In February 2018 and 2019, we captured 120 adult does (60 mule deer, 60 white-tailed deer) using helicopter net-gun techniques and deployed 120 vaginal implant transmitters (VITs) synchronized with GPS collars deployed on does. Upon VIT expulsion, a birthing event notification was triggered, which narrowed search efforts for fawns. We captured and radio-collared 100 fawns (53 mule deer, 47 white-tailed deer) during 12 May- 23 June in 2018 and 2019. Fawns were visually located daily using ground-based radio-telemetry and we assessed bed-site selection, cause-specific mortality, and survival rates until fawns reached 10 weeks of age. Overall, fawn survival was low (0.32 ± 0.06) and did not differ between species (mule deer: 0.25 ± 0.08; white-tailed deer: 0.41 ± 0.08). Adult chest girth was positively associated with 70-day white-tailed deer fawn survival, longer fawn body length increased 7-day white-tailed deer fawn survival, and fawn sex best predicted 7-day mule deer fawn survival. Model uncertainty indicated fawn intrinsic factors and maternal conditions may be poor predictors of fawn survival. White-tailed deer survival was lower for fawns with more woodland in their home ranges and mule deer fawn survival exhibited a positive quadratic relationship with the amount of grassland within the home range. Mule deer fawn survival increased with the amount of edge and disaggregation within a home range, but landscape configuration did not explain survival of white-tailed deer fawns. We analyzed microhabitat characteristics at 2689 fawn bed-sites and 2689 paired random points. Bed-site selection differed by species; however, vegetative structure was the most influential microhabitat characteristic for both deer species. Mule deer fawns selected for 75% visual obstruction 8.4 dm tall, less grass cover, more succulent cover, and 56% shrub cover at bed-sites. White-tailed deer fawns selected for 25% visual obstruction 9.2 dm tall, 71% forest canopy cover, and less grass cover and bare-ground at bed-sites. The two species also showed differences in landscape selection. The odds of a white-tailed deer fawn bed-site increased 5.88 times in woodlands, whereas odds of a mule deer fawn bed-site increased 2.85 times in CRP. Our research suggests white-tailed deer fawns and mule deer fawns selected different characteristics for bed-sites at the microhabitat and landscape scale. Bed-site selection likely influences fawn survival, which could affect fawn recruitment. Managers should focus on maintaining heterogeneous landscapes composed mainly of native and Conservation Reserve Program grasslands with abundant cover to enhance mule deer fawn survival and bolster adult populations.

Book Survival Activity Patterns Movements Home Ranges and Resource Selection of Female Mule Deer and White tailed Deer in Western Kansas

Download or read book Survival Activity Patterns Movements Home Ranges and Resource Selection of Female Mule Deer and White tailed Deer in Western Kansas written by Talesha Karish and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (O. hemionus) occur in sympatric populations across the Great Plains in North America. Mule deer abundance and occupied range has been declining during the past three decades while white-tailed deer abundance and occupied range has been increasing. Factors contributing to the dichotomous population growth and distribution patterns across their sympatric range are unknown, but potentially include differential survival, space use, and resource selection, all of which may be contributing to indirect competition that may be negatively affecting mule deer populations. Overlap in resource use or space use between mule deer and white-tailed deer could be evidence of competition or competitive exclusion. Activity patterns could provide insights for temporal segregation or competition. Differential space use could allow these species to spatially segregate and co-occur without competing for the same resources. My objectives were to 1) estimate annual and seasonal survival rates, 2) identify cause-specific mortality of adult female mule deer and white-tailed deer, 3) compare behavior patterns between adult mule deer and white-tailed deer of both sexes at seasonal and fine temporal period scales, 4) evaluate the difference in movements between adult female mule deer and white-tailed deer at seasonal and fine temporal scales, 5) test for differences in home range area and composition of adult female mule deer and white-tailed deer at seasonal and fine temporal scales, and 6) evaluate differences in seasonal multi-scale resource selection by female mule deer and white-tailed deer in western Kansas. I deployed collars on 184 pregnant females (94 mule deer and 90 white-tailed deer) at two different study sites in western Kansas (North, South) over three years, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Each deer received a high-resolution GPS/VHF collar that recorded hourly locations, activity accelerometer data along 3 axes, and used an activity sensor to identify mortality events. I used a Kaplan-Meier model to estimate cumulative weekly and annual survival and fit a hazard function to each survival model. I tested for relative influence of factors on estimated survival. I categorized activity points into three behavioral states (feeding, resting, and running). I converted activity points into a proportion of total behavior for each deer and tested for differences in the proportion of behavior categories between species and among seasons. I calculated individual hourly and daily movements seasonally and compared them between species and among seasons. I calculated annual and seasonal 95% home ranges and 50% core areas for each individual deer using a Biased Brownian Bridge movement model. Using logistic regression, I modeled resource selection by mule deer and white-tailed deer at the landscape scale, within home range scale, and within the core home range to identify selection for potential habitat variables and cover types. There was no difference in annual survival of adult female deer between species (mule deer [0.78 ± 0.04] and white-tailed deer [0.77 ± 0.05]). Harvest was the leading known cause of female mortality at 14% of the total mortality, but it was low compared to other studies in the Great Plains. Behavior of both species was similar in all seasons except for rut for males. In rut, males doubled their running behavior. Firearm season produced no changes in behavior for either species or sex. However, the greatest movements and home ranges were in the firearm season. There were greater movements and home ranges in the cold seasons than in the warm seasons. Mule deer were found to use steeper slopes than white-tailed deer, and white-tailed deer used riparian and woodland areas more than mule deer. Habitat patches enrolled in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Conservation Reserve Program were strongly selected by both species in every season and scale. Managers should focus on preserving CRP to stabilize the mule deer population. Given harvest rates of females are low, survival of adult females of both species of deer appears to be little affected by harvest, so there is no need to alter harvest rates of either species.

Book Survival Movement and Resource Selection of Male Mule Deer and White tailed Deer in Western Kansas

Download or read book Survival Movement and Resource Selection of Male Mule Deer and White tailed Deer in Western Kansas written by Maureen Alexandra Kinlan and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abundance and occupied range of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in Kansas have been declining for 20 years. The two predominant hypotheses for the reduction of mule deer and concurrent expansion of white-tailed deer (O. virginianus) are changes in land use and competitive dominance of white-tailed deer over mule deer. Despite the popularity and income that stem from hunting revenue, there have been no recent studies that provide critical insight on how to improve management and conservation of sympatric populations of either deer species in Kansas. My objectives were to (1) test for differences in annual and weekly survival rates between species, identify temporal mortality patterns, and assess influences of hunting and rut on survival; and (2) examine movement patterns, space use, and population-level resource selection by adult male mule deer and white-tailed deer in western Kansas during three time periods (annually, rut, and 12-day firearm season). I deployed GPS-collared 60 (30 mule; 30 white-tailed deer), 25 (12 mule; 13 white-tailed deer), and 26 (13 mule; 13 white-tailed deer) male mule deer and white-tailed deer at two different study sites (north and south) located in western Kansas in 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively, maintaining a sample size of 60 at the start of each study year. Each deer was fitted with a high resolution GPS/VHF collar that recorded bi-hourly locations and used an activity sensor to identify mortality events. I assigned each deer to an age class (

Book Survival and Cause specific Mortality of Mule Deer Fawns Along the Upper Santa Fe Trail Northcentral New Mexico

Download or read book Survival and Cause specific Mortality of Mule Deer Fawns Along the Upper Santa Fe Trail Northcentral New Mexico written by Laurie Araceli Lomas and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL PATTERNS IN WHITE TAILED DEER FAWN SURVIVAL AND CAUSE SPECIFIC MORTALITY

Download or read book SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL PATTERNS IN WHITE TAILED DEER FAWN SURVIVAL AND CAUSE SPECIFIC MORTALITY written by Tess Gingery and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Juvenile survival may be the most critical component of large herbivore population growth, but how neonate survival changes over time and space is not fully understood. Neonate survival rates are influenced by maternal care, site-specific differences, and are generally characterized by year-to-year variation. Sources of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawn mortality across North America include predation, natural causes (excluding predation), and both direct and indirect human-caused mortality. The relative frequency of these causes indicates which sources most affect neonate survival and can be easily compared among studies. We used a meta-analysis approach to elucidate spatial patterns in fawn survival at a landscape-scale across North America. However, comparing survival rates across time is not possible when confounded by spatial variation. Therefore, we investigated how fawn survival varied across time by conducting a neonate survival study in central Pennsylvania to compare a current estimate of neonate survival to previous estimates for central Pennsylvania in 20002001. Furthermore, because pre-weaned neonates (

Book Survival Cause specific Mortality and Movements of White tailed Deer in Rural and Suburban Massachusetts

Download or read book Survival Cause specific Mortality and Movements of White tailed Deer in Rural and Suburban Massachusetts written by Christopher R. Gaughan and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Managing Habitats for White tailed Deer in the Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains of South Dakota and Wyoming

Download or read book Managing Habitats for White tailed Deer in the Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains of South Dakota and Wyoming written by Carolyn Hull Sieg and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Assessment of Mule Deer Fawn Survival and Birth Site Habitat Attributes in South central Oregon

Download or read book Assessment of Mule Deer Fawn Survival and Birth Site Habitat Attributes in South central Oregon written by David Speten and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations in south-central Oregon are near their lowest levels since census efforts began in 1961. I investigated fawn survival, cause-specific mortality, and factors contributing to mortality from 2010 - 2012 to identify potential causes for the decline. I also explored pre-parturition and parturition site characteristics. I studied fawn survival among two different population segments in south-central Oregon. Adult females (n = 126;> 1 year old) were captured on winter ranges to collect biological samples and attach transmitters. Vaginal implant transmitters facilitated the capture of fawns (n = 127). Fawns (birth to

Book Mule and Black tailed Deer of North America

Download or read book Mule and Black tailed Deer of North America written by Olof C. Wallmo and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 632 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developed in co-operation with U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

Book Survival Cause specific Mortality and Habitat Selection of Translocated Female Mule Deer in Southern New Mexico

Download or read book Survival Cause specific Mortality and Habitat Selection of Translocated Female Mule Deer in Southern New Mexico written by Jana Bethanie Ashling and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations in southern New Mexico have failed to recover from past population declines. Concurrently, populations near urban areas have increased, resulting in overabundant populations and increased human-wildlife conflicts, including damage to property and increased vehicle collisions. Rather than conducting large-scale, lethal removal of mule deer, a translocation program was initiated in an effort to simultaneously reduce the density of the urban mule deer population in Silver City, New Mexico, and augment low density populations in two local mountain ranges: the Peloncillo Mountains (PE) and San Francisco River Valley (SFRV) in southwestern New Mexico. I monitored survival and cause-specific mortality, and compared a hard versus soft release method in the second year to determine if release method influenced survival rates. Causes of mortality were predation (51%), disease (9%), accident (5%), and poaching (5%) with an additional 20% of mortalities due to unknown causes. Mountains lions (Puma concolor) caused most of the confirmed predator kills. Annual survival of translocated deer varied by year and location, but did not differ between release methods. In 2013-2014, annual survival in the PE of hard-released deer was 0.61 (SE = 0.10) compared to 0.26 (SE = 0.09) in the SFRV. In 2014-2015, survival of hard-released deer in the PE was 0.65 (SE = 0.16) and survival of soft-released deer was 0.77 (SE = 0.12). In the SFRV, survival of hard- and soft-released deer was 0.67 (SE = 0.15) and 0.49 (SE = 0.16), respectively. Results of my study demonstrate that translocation can be an effective management tool to augment populations of mule deer while reducing over abundant urban populations. It also aids in evaluation of release method, with my study showing that release method did not appear to affect survival. although the timeframe and conditions were limited.

Book Effect of Enhanced Nutrition on Mule Deer Population Rate of Change

Download or read book Effect of Enhanced Nutrition on Mule Deer Population Rate of Change written by Chad J. Bishop and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Concerns over declining mule deer (Odocoileu hemionus) populations during the 1990s prompted research efforts to identify and understand key limiting factors of deer. Similar to past deer declines, a top priority of state wildlife agencies was to evaluate the relative importance of habitat and predation. We therefore evaluated the effect of enhanced nutrition of deer during winter and spring of fecundity and survival rates using a life table response experiment involving free-ranging mule deer on the Uncompahgre Plateau in southwest Colorado, USA"--page 1.