Spatial distribution of potential wild turkey nest predators in west‐central Louisiana

Abstract

AbstractWild turkey nest success is variable spatially and temporally, with predation being the primary driver of nest loss. Historically, characteristics of nest site vegetation have been used to predict the probability of a nest being successful, a corollary to not being preyed upon. Implicit in nest success studies is that the density, distribution, and habitat preferences of predator species, relative to wild turkey nest distribution, drive the predation risk of nests on the landscape. We quantified diversity of wild turkey nest predator species within 11‐ha incubation ranges centered on active nest sites, scent baited passive nest sites, and scent baited and unbaited random sites and developed a spatially explicit predictive model for potential nest predator distribution based on vegetation and landform characteristics that occurred within incubation ranges. We used 210 camera sites on passive (nesting area from previous year), active (nesting area same year), and random sites over 5,144 trap nights (TN) and recorded 2,925 photographs of potential nest predator species. Relative abundance indices (RAI) indicated greater abundance in passive (14.2/100 TN) and active (12.7/100 TN) nesting sites relative to random sites (3.13/100 TN). For active nesting sites, successful nests had lower RAI (1.8/100 TN) than unsuccessful nests (10.4/100 TN) and lower RAI than baited and unbaited random sites (2/100 TN and 4.3/100 TN, respectively). Our results indicate that potential wild turkey nest predator species regularly occurred within incubation ranges, but were more likely to occur in locations with nests than in random locations on the landscape. We did not document a strong relationship between potential nest predator occurrence and spatial vegetation metrics, which do not appear to affect the occurrence of generalist potential predator species. However, we did show evidence of avoidance by certain potential predators for certain vegetation types. Thus, our work indicated that the most important factor affecting a nest's outcome may be the placement of the nest on the landscape relative to use by potential predator species. We suggest future research evaluate how vegetation characteristics within wild turkey incubation ranges impact nest predator use.