Browsing by Subject "Wildlife management"
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Item Differential Responses of Male and Female Pintail Ducks to Pintail Decoys(Texas Tech University, 1973-05) Alford, John RobertNot Available.Item Effects of grazing and trampling by Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) on the vegetative community of Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico(Texas Tech University, 2000-12) Rupp, Susan P.The increase in the Jemez region elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) population is a concem to local managers. Threats to archeological resources and naturally fijnctioning ecosystems through accelerated soil erosion, degrading plant communities, and unnatural vegetation change rank as the highest management priorities at Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. In summer 1998, Bandelier National Monument erected a series of ungulate exclosures and paired reference areas to evaluate elk impacts on the vegetative community in piilon-juniper (PJ), ponderosa grassland (PG), and mixed-conifer (MC) habitat types. A two-factor factorial randomized block design was established to evaluate simulated grazing/trampling treatment combinations applied at different intensities and frequencies from January through May of 1999 and 2000. Unfenced reference areas were compared with non-treated units inside exclosures to evaluate the effects of grazer exclusion. Parameters measured included density, percent foliar/litter cover, mean basal area/plant, productivity, and species richness and composition. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to account for pre-treatment patterns that existed among treatment plots. Pre-treatment and first-year response data indicated large amounts of variation between and within exclosures for all parameters measured which may reflect the inherent variability present in vegetative communities at Bandelier National Monument. Few significant responses were detected following a single year's treatment application and two unseasonably warm winter/spring periods may have confounded or obscured treatment effects.Item Survival, movements, and habitat use of female northern pintails in the Playa Lakes Region(Texas Tech University, 2004-08) Moon, Jena AlyceDespite other waterfowl species recently being at or near all-time population highs, numbers of breeding northern pintails (Anas acuta), hereafter pintails, have been declining since the late 1970s. Population estimates remain well below the goal of 5.6 million birds established by the North American Waterfowl Management Plan and reached an all-time low of 1.8 million birds in 2002. A number of hypotheses have been proposed to address current population declines including: low nest success, poor breeding propensity, disease (avian cholera [Pasteurella muttocida], avian botulism [Clostridium botulinum] and lead poisoning), low breeding-season survival of adults, habitat loss, and low survival during migration and wintering periods. The Playa Lakes Region (PLR) of northwest Texas provides migrating and wintering habitat for over a million waterfowl each year and is the second most important wintering area for waterfowl of the Central Flyway. Even with relatively high population levels in 2003, numbers of pintails wintering in the PLR also have been declining since the late 1970s. The objectives of my research were to (1) assess variation in body structure of pintails wintering in the PLR, (2) evaluate body condition of migrating and wintering pintails, (3) estimated and identify variables influencing over-winter survival and mortality, (4) assess the daily cycle of movements for female pintails wintering in the PLR, and (5) discern habitats important to wintering pintails in the PLR.