Field tracking study reveals increased survival in northern bobwhites using grazed native grasses alongside interspersed shrubs, highlighting the value of working-lands conservation.
Key Points
To determine how grazing native warm-season grasses compared to exotic cool-season grasses, along with shrub cover distribution, influences northern bobwhite survival.
Monitored northern bobwhite populations from April 2019 to October 2022 in southeastern Kentucky, USA.
Estimated seasonal survival rates relative to grass management regimes and shrub interspersion metrics at both 250-m and home-range spatial scales.
Breeding season bobwhite survival was positively associated with an increasing amount of grazed native warm-season grass at the 250-m scale, but only when shrub cover was highly interspersed.
Non-breeding season survival correlated positively with grazed native warm-season grass at the 250-m scale, but only when shrub interspersion-juxtaposition was moderate at the home-range scale.