Macrohabitat effects on summer survival, movements, and clutch success of northern bobwhite in Kansas

Despite being among the most intensively studied and managed species of wil dlife in the world, northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) populations hav e declined over most of their range. Although macrohabitat features associa ted with high bobwhite densities have been described, few data exist linkin g habitat attributes with individual survival or productivity. We compared survival, clutch success, and home range size of radiotagged bobwhite durin g summer between 2 areas in Kansas with different land uses (cropland domin ated [CSA] vs. rangeland dominated [RSA]), and compared macrohabitat surrou nding surviving versus depredated adults and clutches within areas at 5 spa tial scales. Female survival (CSA = 0.26 [SE = 0.01], n = 46; RSA = 0.36 [S E = 0.02], n = 32), home range size (CSA = 75 +/- 15 ha; (x) over bar +/- S E; RSA = 54 +/- 16 ha), and clutch success (CSA = 0.58; RSA = 0.67) were si milar (P > 0.05) between areas, whereas male survival was higher (P = 0.021 ) on the RSA (0.51 [SE = 0.01], n = 70) than on the CSA (0.26 [SE = 0.01], n = 61). Within the RSA, surviving adults had more cropland and greater mea n distances to grassland in areas surrounding them at small to intermediate scales than those that were depredated (P less than or equal to 0.1). Habi tat surrounding surviving versus depredated adults was similar (P > 0.1) on the CSA. Successful clutches on the CSA were surrounded by less rangeland and more hayland at small to intermediate scales than those that were depre dated (P less than or equal to 0.1). Habitat surrounding successful versus depredated clutches was similar (P > 0.1) on the RSA. Our results suggest t he amount of breeding (i.e., grassland) habitat as well as its composition and distribution influenced some aspects of bobwhite survival and productiv ity, but habitat selection could not be used to reliably identify habitat a ttributes associated with higher probabilities of adult survival or clutch success. Reversing bobwhite population declines at large scales depends on identifying macrohabitat attributes that specifically influence individual fitness rather than population distributions.