WILD TURKEY POPULATION DYNAMICS AND BROOD SURVIVAL PROJECT REPORT FOR DECEMBER 2023
Provided by the Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Oklahoma State University
Wild turkey genetics, nesting success, and brood survival are among the research topics in a 4.5-year, $2 million study launched in 2022 by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, the Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and partnering with National Wild Turkey Federation, Turkeys For Tomorrow, and private landowners to address wild turkey population dynamics. Following is a summary of recent study activities.
Research teams took delivery of 40 new GPS transmitters at the end of December and calibrated the accelerometers on all of them. Analyses of camera trap images from last season continued.
SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA POPULATION STUDY AREA: The team searched for and downloaded data from hens that remain from last season. Five birds were located (one of them in Texas), but the battery levels for two of those five transmitters were too depleted to allow data download. Six birds captured and equipped with transmitters in 2023 were not located.
Researchers found a new roosting location in Beckham County and secured permission from the landowner to trap at that location. In Harmon County, they received permission to trap at one of the sites from last year and are waiting to hear from the landowner at the other.
The use of camera traps to estimate predator densities will be expanded in the southwest this season to 80 cameras deployed over a greater area. Camera deployment will also begin in January as opposed to April and continue through the nesting season.
Preparations for winter captures continued. Interviews continued for technician positions, and the final technician for the season was hired.
Researchers began exploring turkey movement and accelerometer data, and conducted some preliminary analyses.
SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA POPULATION STUDY AREA: Preparations for winter captures continued. Researchers secured all necessary permits for sending the e-DNA swab samples taken from predated adults and nests to Wildlife Genetics International in Canada for predator identification, and shipped the samples.
Interviews continued for technician positions, and the final technician for the season was hired.
GENETICS STUDY: Researchers finished the initial data cleanup and merged data for each chromosome. Preliminary analysis of the data has started. Further analysis will assess genetic diversity, inbreeding, and genetic differentiation. Examination of genetic structure will be performed. Each will be cross-validated to assess which analysis provides the best result.
(Financial support for this publication was provided by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation through the Wildlife Restoration Program, F21AF02702 [W-216-R-1] and Oklahoma State University.)