Interannual dynamic resource selection patterns of the northern bobwhite in a region with poor edaphic conditions

Understanding an organism's shifting resource needs throughout its life cycle is crucial for developing effective conservation strategies. Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) populations have been declining for nearly a century due largely to habitat loss/degradation. Many management regimes are based on analyses of resource selection conducted at coarse temporal scales, often within regions with productive soils. Although prior research provides a foundation for the development of management guidelines, patterns derived from finer-scale temporal analyses and varying ecological contexts may reveal novel information. We compared inferences derived from analyses conducted at varying temporal scales (full year, two-season, and daily [moving-window]; n = 1,302 bobwhites) in southeastern North Carolina, a region with poor edaphic conditions (i.e., nutrient-poor soils). We focused on four habitat attributes that can be affected by management: distance to fallow fields, distance to supplem..., Study Area and Study Site. Our study occurred in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain Level III Ecoregion (Griffith et al., 2002; U.S. EPA 2013), on a private property in Brunswick County, North Carolina. Much of the property consisted of mature longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and loblolly pine (P. taeda) savanna (48 % land cover) with rolling sandhills, flatwoods, and bottomlands interspersed throughout. Within the uplands, soils were well-drained and were of low productivity: Kureb fine sands with 1–8 % slopes (forest site index [ft]: 53 for longleaf pine, 64 for loblolly pine), Leon fine sands 0-2 % slopes (ft: 70 for longleaf pine, 75 for loblolly pine), Baymeade fine sands on 1–6 % slopes (ft: 63 for longleaf pine, 66 for loblolly pine), and Blanton fine sand of 0–5 % slopes (ft: 70 for longleaf pine, 85 for loblolly pine; USDA 2023; NCDACS 2024). The overstory consisted primarily of longleaf pine, loblolly pine, and southern live oak (Quercus virginiana). The understory was a mix of ..., # Interannual dynamic resource selection patterns of the northern bobwhite in a region with poor edaphic conditions

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.mcvdnckg4](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mcvdnckg4)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: NOBO_Data_For_Dryad.csv

**Description:** Raw data for habitat selection analysis used in Randall et al., *Wildlife Biology* (DOI: 10.1002/wlb3.01681)

##### Variables

* bird_id: categorical. unique identifier for each individual bird.
* ordinal: ordinal date of observation
* year: year of data collection
* course: categorical. unique identifier for the course (management unit) within which each bird occured
* response: binary. 1 = \"used\" location, 0 = \"random\" location
* burn_stat: binary. 1 = \"burned in current year\", 0 = \"not burned in current year\"
* dtn_feedline: continuous; distance (m) between the location and nearest supplemental feed line
* dtn_decid: continuous; distance (m) between the location and ..., ,