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Survivorship of radio-transmittered urban White-winged Doves on the Edwards Plateau, Texas.

Article Excerpt
This study evaluates survivorship of White-winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica) with subcutaneously implanted radio-transmitters in Mason, Texas from January to March of 2006. Attempts were made to compare survivorship of transmittered doves (0.70 [+ or -] 0.135) with untransmittered doves using mark-recapture methodology in program MARK. No mark-recapture survivorship models had adequate fit for comparisons. Consequently, annual survivorship was estimated from period survivorship data for transmittered doves. This study concluded that the use of radio-transmitters had a detrimental effect on White-winged Dove survival for this particular study.

George et al. (2000) reported highly variable survival rates for White-winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica) in Texas and New Mexico from 1960 to 1978 using banding data. However, no recent reliable estimates of survival exist for White-winged Doves, and no comparisons of survival estimation methods have been conducted for this species.

Radio-telemetry has become a frequently used tool for studying doves in the U.S. in recent years (Schulz et al. 1998; 2001; Schaefer et al. 2004; Small et al. 2005; Berdeen & Otis 2006). Captive studies of both Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura) and White-winged Doves indicated subcutaneous implantation of transmitters were the preferred method of attachment (Schulz et al. 2001; Small et al. 2004b). A study of free-ranging Mourning Doves in South Carolina indicated implanted radio-transmitters did not detrimentally affect survival from hunter harvest (Berdeen & Otis 2006). However, doves in that study showed higher survival rates when held 24 h post-implantation prior to release.

This study estimates annual survival for free-ranging White-winged Doves with subcutaneously implanted radio-transmitters, and tests the concept put forth by Guthrie & Lusk (2004) that using radio-transmitters for estimating survivorship may negatively bias estimates. This study provides an evaluation of the efficacy of this transmitter attachment technique in wild White-winged Doves.

All activities were conducted in accordance with Texas State University-San Marcos IACUC approval #06-05CC59736D, state permit #SPR-0890-234, and federal permit #06827.

METHODS

Study area.--This study was conducted in Mason, Texas in the Edwards Plateau ecoregion (Gould et al. 1960). Mason encompasses 958.3 ha with a population of about 2,211 (City-data.com 2005). Dominant tree species in Mason include oaks (Quercus sp.) and pecan (Carya illinoinensis) mixed with ornamentals and an understory of ornamental shrubs and turf grass. Mason is inhabited by a variety of mid-size predators including domestic cats (Felis domesticus), raccoons (Procyon lotor), opossum (Dasypus virginianus), domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), and hawks (Accipiter sp.). White-winged Doves in Mason occur in significantly higher densities in discreet core areas of town (Schwertner & Johnson 2006). Also, backyard bird feeders are abundant in Mason and are frequently used by White-winged Doves.

Areas of White-winged Dove habitat in Mason were delineated using ArcGIS 9.1 (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., Redlands, CA, USA). The 1992 National Land Cover Data (U.S. Geological Survey 1999) were used to identify areas of urban land cover. These areas were then buffered at 500 m and the resulting polygons defined as White-winged Dove habitat (Schwertner & Johnson 2006), thus designating the study area.

Radio-transmittered doves.-Forty-four White-winged Doves were implanted with subcutaneous radio-transmitters (Advance Telemetry Systems, Isanti, Minnesota) between 13 January and 11 March 2006 following the field implantation procedure described by Small et al. (2004a). Transmitters were 41.83 ([+ or -]0.05) by...

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