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Patterns of space and habitat use by northern bobwhites in South Florida, USA

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Abstract

The manner by which animals use space and select resources can have important management consequences. We studied patterns of habitat selection by northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) on Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area, Charlotte County, Florida and evaluated factors influencing the sizes of their home ranges. A total of 1,245 radio-tagged bobwhites were monitored for 19,467 radio days during 2002–2007. The mean ( ± 1 SE) annual home range size, estimated using the Kernel density method, was 88.43 ( ± 6.16) ha and did not differ between genders. Winter home ranges of bobwhites (69.27 ± 4.92 ha) were generally larger than summer home ranges (53.90 ± 4.93 ha). Annual and winter home ranges were smaller for bobwhites whose ranges contained food plots compared to those that did not; however, the presence of food plots did not influence summer home ranges. We used distance-based methods to investigate habitat selection by bobwhites at two scales: selection of home ranges within the study site (second-order selection) and selection of habitats within home ranges (third-order selection). Across both scales, bobwhites generally preferred food plots and dry prairie habitat and avoided wet prairies and roads. This pattern was generally consistent between genders and across years. Our data indicate that management practices aimed at increasing and maintaining a matrix of food plots and dry prairie habitat would provide the most favorable environment for bobwhites.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ralph W. Dimmick and Stephen Brinkley for leading the field data collection efforts; this work would not have been possible without their dedicated work. We thank M. Kemmerer and C. Pope for providing information on the history and management of the WMA, for assistance with equipment maintenance, and for general counsel and advice as the study progressed. A. Brinkley, G. Coker, C. McKelvy, D. Caudill, S. Dimmick, D. Holt, J. McGrady, J. Sloane, J. Scott, and L. Taylor assisted with data collection. T. O’Meara provided valuable advice throughout the study. R. Dimmick and W. Palmer and V. Rolland provided many helpful comments on the manuscript. We are grateful to the many volunteers from the Southwest Florida Chapter of Quail Unlimited who aided the research in many ways. Research was funded by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation and School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Florida. We thank two anonymous reviewers for many helpful comments and suggestions.

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  1. Aditya Singh

    Present address: Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Russell Labs, University of Wisconsin, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, 110 Newins-Ziegler Hall, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Aditya Singh, Jeffery A. Hostetler & Madan K. Oli

  2. Small Game Program, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 1314 SW 186th St, Newberry, FL, 32669, USA

    Tommy C. Hines

  3. Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation, U.S. Geological Survey, Florida Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, University of Florida, Bldg. 810, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    H. Franklin Percival

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  1. Aditya Singh
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Correspondence to Madan K. Oli.

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Communicated by C. Gortázar

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Singh, A., Hines, T.C., Hostetler, J.A. et al. Patterns of space and habitat use by northern bobwhites in South Florida, USA. Eur J Wildl Res 57, 15–26 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-010-0393-x

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