Theses and Dissertations
Issuing Body
Mississippi State University
Advisor
Wang, Guiming
Committee Member
Belant, Jerrold L.
Committee Member
Godwin, K. David
Date of Degree
5-12-2012
Document Type
Graduate Thesis - Open Access
Major
Wildlife and Fisheries Science
Degree Name
Master of Science
College
College of Forest Resources
Department
Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture
Abstract
The eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallapovo silvestris) was nearly extirpated from the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) from overharvesting and habitat loss in the early 1900s. Habitat restoration with hardwood regeneration has likely improved habitat suitability for turkeys in the MAV. I studied establishment and movement of translocated turkeys to assess feasibility of turkey restoration in the MAV. Turkeys were translocated to 2 study sites in the MAV during winters of 2009 and 2010. I monitored movement, survival, and resource selection of translocated turkeys using radio telemetry (February 2009–April 2011). Movement increased with increasing resource dispersion. Mortalities did not differ among 4 causes. Biweekly survival of translocated turkeys was related inversely to spring precipitation, but related positively to precipitation during other seasons. Mature and regenerating hardwood forests served as nesting and brooding habitat; therefore, increasing hardwood forests will likely improve success of future turkey restoration in the MAV.
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17920
Recommended Citation
Marable, Kyle, "Movement, Space Use, and Cause-Specific Mortality of Translocated Wild Turkeys in the Mississippi Delta" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 3214.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/3214
Comments
cause-specific mortality||space use||movement||translocation||Mississippi Delta||radio telemetry||wild turkey