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. 2023 Oct 30;13(1):18639.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-45684-1.

Habitat selection of Gould's wild turkeys in southeastern Arizona

Erin E Ulrey  1 , Patrick H Wightman  2 , Nicholas W Bakner  2 , Byron R Buckley  3 , Nathan Fyffe  4 , Brittany Oleson  4 , Alex Smallwood  4 , James R Heffelfinger  4 , Michael J Chamberlain  2 , Bret A Collier  3
Affiliations

Habitat selection of Gould's wild turkeys in southeastern Arizona

Erin E Ulrey et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

In semi-arid environments, resources necessary for survival may be unevenly distributed across the landscape. Gould's wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo mexicana) are spatially restricted to mountainous semi-arid areas of southwestern United States and Mexico, and information on their distribution and habitat use is limited. We described how landcover type and topographical features influenced space use and habitat selection by Gould's wild turkeys in southeastern Arizona. We used GPS data from 51 Gould's wild turkeys to describe resource selection during 2016-2017 in southeastern Arizona, USA. We estimated home ranges and calculated resource selection functions using distance from landcover types, slope, aspect, and elevation at used locations and random locations within individual home ranges. Gould's wild turkeys selected areas closer to pine forest and water. Likewise, Gould's wild turkeys selected locations with moderate elevations of 1641 ± 235 m (range = 1223-2971 m), and on north and west facing slopes with a 10° ± 8.5 (range = 0.0-67.4°) incline. Our findings suggest that conserving portions of the landscape with appropriate topography and landcover types as described above will promote habitat availability for Gould's wild turkeys.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of study region in southeastern Arizona used to study Gould’s wild turkeys during 2016–2017, which included the (A) Pinaleño mountains, (B) Chiricahua mountains, (C) Santa Rita mountains, (D) Patagonia and Huachuca mountains.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Circular plot of aspect (°) for Gould’s wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo mexicana) GPS locations in Coronado National Forest in southeastern Arizona, USA, 2016–2017. Gray bars represent the distribution of data.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Predicted probability of habitat selection for landcover type (solid line) with 95% confidence intervals (gray ribbon) from the global model for Gould’s wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo mexicana) in Coronado National Forest, southeastern Arizona, USA, 2016–2017.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Predicted probability of habitat selection relative to elevation and slope (solid line) with 95% confidence intervals (gray ribbon) from the global model for Gould’s wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo mexicana) in Coronado National Forest, southeastern Arizona, USA, 2016–2017.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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