To stay or to roam? Behavioural type influences trade‐offs in male wild turkey survival

Animals develop familiarity with specific areas through repeated use, gaining detailed knowledge of local conditions, such as food availability, predator presence, and landscape features, which can directly impact fitness. While site familiarity has been widely studied in the context of foraging and breeding, no studies have assessed the fitness consequences of using familiar locations near key sleeping sites. Moreover, studies on site familiarity have generally focused solely on predation risk, overlooking the potential influence of harvest. To further our understanding of the fitness impacts of site familiarity, we used GPS data from 106 male wild turkeys ( Meleagris gallopavo ) to quantify among‐individual differences in site familiarity, measured as proximity to familiar roosting sites, and examined how among‐individual differences in site familiarity related to susceptibility to both predation and harvest. We found substantive individual differences, with some males consistently remaining closer to familiar roosting areas than others. Male wild turkeys that exhibited greater site familiarity and stayed near familiar roosting sites were more likely to survive the hunting season, suggesting that site familiarity may facilitate hunter avoidance, possibly through increased knowledge of hunter activity. However, males that displayed greater site familiarity and occurred closer to familiar roosting sites had elevated predation risk, indicating a trade‐off in which spatial predictability may benefit individuals under one mortality source while exposing them to another. Our findings, together with prior research, challenge the assumption that site familiarity is inherently beneficial and emphasize the importance of evaluating space use behaviour in the context of multiple, interacting mortality risks. In harvested populations, such insights are especially valuable for understanding how animals navigate trade‐offs between predation and harvest risk, which can deepen our understanding of species responses to human activity. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.