Effect of conspecific attraction on the presence of Northern Bobwhites

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-198
Author(s):  
Loren Merrill ◽  
Stephen A. Tyndel ◽  
Michael P. Ward ◽  
Thomas J. Benson ◽  
Jinelle H. Sperry
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy L. Farthing ◽  
Thomas W. Schwertner ◽  
Heather A. Mathewson ◽  
Kimberly A. Guay

Gossypol, a secondary plant compound found in cotton (Gossypium spp.), is known to be toxic to a variety of animals, particularly monogastric mammals and birds. Because ruminants are resistant to gossypol, whole cottonseed and cottonseed meal have been used as a feed supplement for many decades. Concerns over gossypol toxicity arise because of its presence in cottonseed products, particularly livestock and wildlife feed. The concentration of cottonseed in the environment near livestock and wildlife feeding stations presents the possibility that it may be ingested in significant amounts by non-target wild animals, resulting in inadvertent gossypol dosing. A species of significant economic and cultural value is the Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus). However, there are no published data regarding if Northern Bobwhites would consume cottonseed meal given the opportunity. We assessed selection for or against cottonseed meal by performing a dietary preference study. Birds (n =120) were given the choice between commercial game bird feed, scratch grains, and cottonseed meal containing 0.74% total gossypol. We measured feed consumption for five days. The birds’ diet consisted of 51.74% game bird feed, 37.72% scratch grains, and 10.54% cottonseed meal, and percentages varied significantly among all feed types (P≤0.001, n =360). We concluded that Northern Bobwhites selected against the cottonseed meal in favour of the game bird feed first and the scratch grains second. Our results suggest that given the choice, Northern Bobwhites will select against cottonseed meal if other feed choices are available.


1988 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred S. Guthery ◽  
Nancy E. Koerth ◽  
David S. Smith

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth A Hahn ◽  
Emily D Silverman

For migratory songbirds nesting in northern temperate forests, a short breeding season demands that males rapidly establish territories. Because critical insect and vegetation resources are unavailable during spring arrival, we suggest that conspecifics serve as settlement cues for males new to a local population. To test conspecific attraction, we conducted playback experiments with American redstarts Setophaga ruticilla . Experimental results demonstrate that song playbacks strongly attract conspecifics, recruiting an average of 4.2 additional males per plot; adult males new to our sites increased, while yearling males failed to respond. Yearlings arrived 6 to 10 days later than adults, raising the possibility that yearlings responded to songs of early arriving adults rather than to playbacks. Our work indicates that conspecific attraction is an important mechanism for breeding habitat selection in an established population of a migratory forest songbird, but the effect is moderated by age, reproductive experience and arrival timing.


The Condor ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathon J Valente ◽  
Christa L LeGrande-Rolls ◽  
James W Rivers ◽  
Anna M Tucker ◽  
Richard A Fischer ◽  
...  

Abstract Conspecific presence can indicate the location or quality of resources, and animals settling near conspecifics often gain fitness benefits. This can result in adaptive conspecific attraction during breeding habitat selection as demonstrated in numerous terrestrial, territorial birds. There is growing interest in using simulated conspecific social cues (e.g., decoys, broadcasted vocalizations) to manage bird distributions, yet it remains unclear when this approach is likely to succeed. We reviewed published studies to evaluate whether the strength of conspecific attraction in terrestrial birds is mediated by characteristics of species (life history traits), simulated cues (e.g., timing and duration), sites (e.g., quality), and how conspecific attraction was measured. We identified 31 experiments that simulated social cues and compared conspecific settlement between treatment and control sites. We then used phylogenetically controlled meta-regression to assess the impacts of 19 moderators on settlement. Nearly all species included in these experiments were migratory passerines, and social cues generally had a strong, positive influence on their settlement decisions, as the odds of site occupancy were 3.12× (95% CI: 0.81–11.69) greater in treatment sites relative to control sites. Within this group, conspecific attraction was evolutionarily conserved with ≥25.5% (95% CI: 5.1%–65.4%) of the variance in treatment effects explained by phylogenetic relatedness. However, we found no evidence that any covariates influenced the response to social cues, and we posit this stems from limited research specifically designed to identify the mechanisms mediating conspecific attraction. We therefore developed a research agenda that provides a framework for testing mechanistic hypotheses regarding how cue characteristics, species traits, and spatial contexts may mediate attraction to conspecifics. Evaluating these hypotheses will greatly advance the field by helping managers understand when, where, and why simulating social cues can be used to enhance populations of species that are of conservation concern.


2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 649-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah M. Ertl ◽  
Miguel A. Mora ◽  
Diane E. Boellstorff ◽  
Donald Brightsmith ◽  
Katherine Carson

Author(s):  
Jonathan S. Burnam ◽  
Gretchen Turner ◽  
Susan N. Ellis-Felege ◽  
William E. Palmer ◽  
D. Clay Sisson ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 562-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas R. Dunham ◽  
Andrea Bruno ◽  
Sadia Almas ◽  
Dale Rollins ◽  
Alan M. Fedynich ◽  
...  

1987 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy E. Koerth ◽  
Fred S. Guthery

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