Gobbling across landscapes: Eastern wild turkey distribution and occupancy-habitat associations

Extensive restoration and translocation efforts beginning in the mid-20th century helped to reestablish eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) throughout their ancestral range.  The adaptability of wild turkeys resulted in further population expansion in regions that were considered unfavorable during initial reintroductions across the northern United States.  Identification and understanding of species distributions and contemporary habitat associations are important for guiding effective conservation and management strategies across different ecological landscapes.  To investigate differences in wild turkey distribution across two contrasting regions, heavily forested northern Wisconsin, USA, and predominately agricultural southeast Wisconsin, we conducted 3,050 gobbling call-count surveys from March–May 2014–2018 and used multiseason correlated-replicate occupancy models to evaluate occupancy-habitat associations and distributions of wild turkeys in each study region. ...

始于20世纪中期的大规模恢复与再引种工程，帮助东部野生火鸡（Meleagris gallopavo silvestris）在其祖先分布范围内重新建立了种群。野生火鸡的适应性使其种群在美国北部最初被认为不适宜的区域进一步扩张。明确物种分布与当前生境关联并解析其机制，对于指导不同生态景观下的高效保护与管理策略具有重要意义。为探究美国两个截然不同研究区域——植被茂密的威斯康星州北部与以农业用地为主的威斯康星州东南部——的野生火鸡分布差异，我们于2014-2018年3月至5月间开展了3050次雄火鸡鸣叫计数调查，并采用多季相关重复占用模型（multiseason correlated-replicate occupancy models），对两个研究区域内野生火鸡的占用与生境关联及分布情况进行了评估……