habitat

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department stocks Toledo Bend Reservoir annually with fingerling Florida largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides floridanus). Studies suggest that largemouth bass stockings often result in variable and low contributions to cohort abundance. We explored effects of aquatic vegetation on stocking success of fingerling Florida largemouth bass marked with a pelvic fin clip in three species of aquatic vegetation (hydrilla Hydrilla verticillata, coontail Ceratophyllum demersum, and Eurasian watermilfoil Myriophyllum spicatum) in Toledo Bend Reservoir. Stocking sites...

Since the 1987 federal listing as threatened of western populations of gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus), tortoise population recovery and habitat restoration efforts have been implemented at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, Mississippi. We studied plant community and edaphic features around tortoise burrows and at non-occupied locations in 2007. We investigated relationships between burrow presence and habitat characteristics through decision tree and logistic regression analyses. Burrow occurrence was positively related to stem counts of woody plants and species...

Relatively low fecundity may be responsible for lower Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) populations in the southern Appalachians compared to those in more northern areas of the species ' range. Nutritional stress imposed by poor-quality habitat and greater nest predation have been cited as negative influences on reproduction in the region. We monitored 56 female grouse during the reproductive season in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, 1999 - 2004, to measure reproductive success and evaluate cover used for nesting. Nests (n = 44) were located to determine fate and habitat...

Mottled ducks (Anas fulvigula) on the western Gulf Coast have exhibited a steep population decline since the mid 1990s. Low rates of breeding incidence and nest success have been implicated in this decline, but duckling survival and the habitat needs of broods have not been previously investigated in this region. We fitted mottled duck ducklings and adult females with radio transmitters and tracked broods to estimate duckling survival and brood habitat selection on the upper Texas Gulf Coast. Duckling survival to 30 days was high (range among models 0.354-0.567) compared to other dabbling...