Rangeland Ecology & Management

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USE OF HOME RANGE ESTIMATORS TO EVALUATE RING-NECKED PHEASANT HABITAT USE AT MULTIPLE SCALES
Author
Stackhouse, Jeffery W.
Sedivec, Kevin K.
Geaumont, Ben A.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2015
Body

Ring- necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus; hereafter pheasant) habitat selection in southwestern North Dakota was monitored using radio telemetry. Movement and GPS (Global Positioning System) locations of 191 male and female pheasants were recorded weekly from July 2010 to April 2012. For pheasants with ? 20 GPS locations (n= 89), home range was determined using two different estimators: minimum convex polygon (MCP) and kernel density estimation (KDE). The average home range size using the MCP and KDE estimates was 258 and 237 hectares, respectively. Habitat types were delineated from 2010 NAIP (National Agriculture Imagery Program) imagery and broken into 7 categories: croplands, Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) cover, rangeland cover, farmsteads with livestock, wetlands, shelterbelts, and other (areas that did not fall within above categories, including urban). Observed GPS points were overlaid on the digitized map in ESRI's (Economic and Social Research Institute) product ArcMap 10 to assess habitat selection of pheasants. For each observed point, one random point on the digitized map was generated using ArcCatalog 10 to define habitat availability. Habitat types from an overlay of random and observed points were used to create data for logistic regression analysis in SAS (Statistical Analysis Software). The habitat use analysis indicated a positive correlation for pheasant selection toward shelterbelts and farmsteads with livestock during the disparate winter of 2011 and the mild winter of 2012; however, data from winter of 2012 also suggested pheasant selection toward wetlands and CRP habitat types. Habitat use during spring, summer, and fall, showed positive correlations to CRP, wetlands, and wood habitat types. All analyses supported negative selection of pheasants toward rangeland cover habitat types.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Sacramento, CA