1. Wild Turkey Movements During Flooding After Opening of the Morganza Spillway, Louisiana
- Author
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Norman J. Stafford, Kevin L. Skow, Bret A. Collier, Michael E. Byrne, and Michael J. Chamberlain
- Subjects
Hydrology ,Eastern wild turkey ,Spillway ,Geography ,Flood myth ,Flooding (psychology) ,Wildlife management ,Wild turkey ,Structural basin ,Population ecology ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics - Abstract
The opening of the Morganza Spillway in Louisiana on 18 May 2011 to relieve historic flooding along the lower Mississippi river subsequently inundated thousands of acres of bottomland forest in the Atchafalaya basin. Since 2001, we have conducted Meleagris gallopavo silvestris (Eastern Wild Turkey) population ecology research on the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area, located approximately 30 km south of the Morganza spillway. In expectation of the Morganza spillway opening, between 11 and 14 May, we captured and fitted 5 (1 M, 4 F) adult Eastern Wild Turkeys with µGPS transmitters to monitor turkey response to basin flooding. By 19 May 2011, our study area was inundated with >3 m of flood waters, and remained completely inundated until 11 June 2011. Via radio-telemetry, we confirmed one female was depredated immediately before flood waters inundated our study site, and one female survived and reached dry ground created by receding water on 16 June. A second female lived 21 days and made circuito...
- Published
- 2013