2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
9/26/2018 | 9:50 AM - 10:05 AM | Tradeoffs of Nest and Brood Habitat Availability for Lesser Prairie - Chickens | Eccles Conference Center Auditorium
Tradeoffs of Nest and Brood Habitat Availability for Lesser Prairie - Chickens
Most grassland gallinaceous birds have precocial young that begin feeding on their own immediately after hatching. In contrast to the dense litter and thick cover required for optimal nesting conditions, chicks need permeable grassland cover types through which they can move and forage on small insects. For the lesser prairie-chicken, (LEPC, Tympanachus pallidicinctus) females must select nest sites in grasslands exhibiting some level of heterogeneity. Subtle differences among the lifestage specific habitats may lead to tradeoffs in nest and brood survival. To examine the tradeoffs of brood and nest habitat availability on recruitment and identify the optimal composition of habitats, we used an agent-based model in NetLogo 5.2. Agents included nesting LEPC hens and chicks. Patches were of either average quality nesting or brooding habitat based on concurrent vital rate estimates. In 2,100 simulations, we placed 10 LEPC females in virtual landscapes of varying nest and brood habitat composition and estimated fecundity per female. Hens expended energy to find nest habitat and, once found, established nests with a daily survival rate of 0.98 over a 35-day nesting period. Then, females with hatchlings had to find brood habitat within 2X the average brood movement distance (600 m) or the chicks would die. Our results indicated that fecundity rates were greatest in landscapes having 25–70% nesting habitat with maximum rates in landscapes having 45% nesting and 55% brood-rearing habitat (6.85 young/adult female). The predicted optimal range of nesting habitat suggests that management devoted purely to providing nest habitat would be counterproductive.
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Presenters/Authors
Daniel Sullins
(), Kansas State University, sullins@ksu.edu;
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David Haukos
(), dhaukos@ksu.edu;
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John Kraft
(), jkraft1@g.emporia.edu;
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Joseph Lautenbach
(), Ohio Department of Natural Resources, joseph.lautenbach@gmail.com;
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