The following schedule is from the 72nd Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies which was held October 21-24, 2018 in Mobile, Alabama.
AUTHORS: Callie B. Moore, Douglas C. Osborne – University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station
ABSTRACT: Presence of a species in an area during winter is influenced by whether essential requirements for survival are met. Consequently, effective management strategies require a thorough understanding of the resource selection patterns of the species. Since the mid-1900s, widespread environmental changes have occurred throughout mid-continent regions of North America. Herbivorous migratory bird species, particularly geese, have been forced to adapt. The shift of snow goose (Anser caerulescens) populations from historical wintering areas is well documented. However, the ecological response of greater white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons) to these changes remains unknown. We used centrographic statistics, kernel density estimation, and a randomization procedure to test for changes in winter harvest distribution of white-front band recoveries from 1974-2016. Inter-seasonal overlap between UDs was estimated using Bhattacharyya's affinity. Multinomial logit discrete choice models were used to assess resource preferences of white-fronts, and to predict which environmental factors may influence their distribution. Median center for each season revealed the central tendency of recoveries followed a northeasterly path from coastal Texas into the Mississippi Valley. Randomization analysis produced significant differences in the spatial distributions of the 95% and 50% UD isopleths (P =
