Progress 10/01/02 to 09/30/07
Outputs
Our study was designed to improve mourning dove management in Alabama by determining the attitudes, preferences, and activities of mourning dove hunters; determining selected feeding preferences of mourning doves using cultivated and non-cultivated seeds under a variety of weather conditions; and determining the seed production, availability, and cost of selected mourning dove plantings. Alabama hunters were sampled via questionnaire to specifically delineate their attitudes, preferences and activities involved with mourning dove hunting. Childhood socialization was important in developing hunting behavior among dove and non-dove hunters. Dove hunters began at a younger age and were more likely to be introduced to hunting by older family members than were hunters who did not hunt doves. Attrition rate from dove hunting was low, and was unrelated to age of initiation, person intitiating hunting, or childhood residence, but was positively associated with those currently
living in an urban or urban metro area. Most dove hunters and non-dove hunters appeared motivated by multiple, primarily non-success-based satisfactions, although some hunters were motivated primarily by success. Because of the importance of early socialization and non-success-based motivations among dove hunters, we encourage programs providing childhood socialization toward dove hunting and management for multiple hunter satisfactions. Contrary to predictions, food preferences of mourning doves did not vary with short-term or seasonal weather changes, and food selection was not positively related to protein, lipid, or calcium levels. Food selection was positively related to nitrogen-free extract (NFE) and negatively related to cellulose-lignin (C-L) levels in foods, although contents of these components did not completely explain dove food selection. Seed physical characteristics, secondary compound levels, and/or metabolic efficiences may have influenced food selection. Managers
should evaluate attractiveness of new foods based on relative NFE and C-L levels until the relationship of food attractiveness to these other factors are determined. Results of several experiments on optimal foraging theory supported our hypothesis of a fixed time patch departure strategy among mourning doves; we suggest this may be a general pattern among open area-foraging avian granivores. Results of planting experiments and food preference trials indicate that browntop millet is by far the most cost-efficient option for dove field plantings among the warm-season species that we tested. Winter wheat plantings provided the most benefits for mourning doves during the early breeding season. On the basis of seed yield and cost-efficiency, white and dove proso millets generally appear to be poor choices for planting in Alabama dove fields. These were among the lowest-yielding crops each year despite being among the most preferred foods selected by mourning doves.
Impacts
Data from our publications will provide state agencies faced with declining participation in hunting ways to retain hunters and stimulate more interest in various forms of the sport e.g., mourning dove hunting). Also, these data will provide the best and most economically feasible foods to plant to attract mourning doves for hunting.
Publications
- Hayslette, S.E., and R.E. MIRARCHI. 2003. Effects of seed weathering on food selection in mourning doves. Proc. Annu. Conf. Southeast. Assoc. Fish and Wildl. Agencies 57: In press.
- Hayslette, S.E., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2002. Mourning doves and salt: Is there an attraction? J. Wildl. Manage. 66:425-432.
- Hayslette, S.E., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2002. Patch use and within patch diet selectivity in mourning doves (Zenaida macroura). Ecology 83:2637-2641.
- Hayslette, S.E., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2002. Is mass loss a useful index of seed deterioration in a terrestrial environment? Proc. Annu. Conf. Southeast. Assoc. Fish and Wildl. Agencies 56: In press.
- Mirarchi, R.E. 2002. What kind of dove is that? Wildlife Trends 2(8):1-3.
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Progress 01/01/02 to 12/31/02
Outputs
Our study was designed to improve mourning dove management in Alabama by determining the attitudes, preferences, and activities of mourning dove hunters; determining selected feeding preferences of mourning doves using cultivated and non-cultivated seeds under a variety of weather conditions; and determining the seed production, availability, and cost of selected mourning dove plantings. Alabama hunters were sampled via questionnaire to specifically delineate their attitudes, preferences and activities involved with mourning dove hunting. Childhood socialization was important in developing hunting behavior among dove and non-dove hunters. Dove hunters began at a younger age and were more likely to be introduced to hunting by older family members than were hunters who did not hunt doves. Attrition rate from dove hunting was low, and was unrelated to age of initiation, person intitiating hunting, or childhood residence, but was positively associated with those currently
living in an urban or urban metro area. Most dove hunters and non-dove hunters appeared motivated by multiple, primarily non-success-based satisfactions, although some hunters were motivated primarily by success. Because of the importance of early socialization and non-success-based motivations among dove hunters, we encourage programs providing childhood socialization toward dove hunting and management for multiple hunter satisfactions. Contrary to predictions, food preferences of mourning doves did not vary with short-term or seasonal weather changes, and food selection was not positively related to protein, lipid, or calcium levels. Food selection was positively related to nitrogen-free extract (NFE) and negatively related to cellulose-lignin (C-L) levels in foods, although contents of these components did not completely explain dove food selection. Seed physical characteristics, secondary compound levels, and/or metabolic efficiences may have influenced food selection. Managers
should evaluate attractiveness of new foods based on relative NFE and C-L levels until the relationship of food attractiveness to these other factors are determined. Results of several experiments on optimal foraging theory supported our hypothesis of a fixed time patch departure strategy among mourning doves; we suggest this may be a general pattern among open area-foraging avian granivores. Results of planting experiments and food preference trials indicate that browntop millet is by far the most cost-efficient option for dove field plantings among the warm-season species that we tested. Winter wheat plantings provided the most benefits for mourning doves during the early breeding season. On the basis of seed yield and cost-efficiency, white and dove proso millets generally appear to be poor choices for planting in Alabama dove fields. These were among the lowest-yielding crops each year despite being among the most preferred foods selected by mourning doves.
Impacts
Data from our publications will provide state agencies faced with declining participation in hunting ways to retain hunters and stimulate more interest in various forms of the sport (e.g., mourning dove hunting). Also, these data will provide the best and most economically feasible foods to plant to attract mourning doves for hunting.
Publications
- Hayslette, S.E., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2002. Mourning doves and salt: Is there an attraction? J. Wildl. Manage. 66:425-432.
- Hayslette, S.E., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2002. Patch use and within patch diet selectivity in mourning doves (Zenaida macroura). Ecology 83:2637-2641.
- Hayslette, S.E., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2002. Is mass loss a useful index of seed deterioration in a terrestrial environment? Proc. Annu. Conf. Southeast. Assoc. Fish and Wildl. Agencies 56: In press.
- Mirarchi, R.E. 2002. What kind of dove is that? Wildlife Trends 2(8):1-3.
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Progress 02/24/98 to 09/30/02
Outputs
Our study was designed to improve mourning dove management in Alabama by determining the attitudes, preferences, and activities of mourning dove hunters; determining selected feeding preferences of mourning doves using cultivated and non-cultivated seeds under a variety of weather conditions; and determining the seed production, availability, and cost of selected mourning dove plantings. Alabama hunters were sampled via questionnaire to specifically delineate their attitudes, preferences and activities involved with mourning dove hunting. Childhood socialization was important in developing hunting behavior among dove and non-dove hunters. Dove hunters began at a younger age and were more likely to be introduced to hunting by older family members than were hunters who did not hunt doves. Attrition rate from dove hunting was low, and was unrelated to age of initiation, person intitiating hunting, or childhood residence, but was positively associated with those currently
living in an urban or urban metro area. Most dove hunters and non-dove hunters appeared motivated by multiple, primarily non-success-based satisfactions, although some hunters were motivated primarily by success. Because of the importance of early socialization and non-success-based motivations among dove hunters, we encourage programs providing childhood socialization toward dove hunting and management for multiple hunter satisfactions. Contrary to predictions, food preferences of mourning doves did not vary with short-term or seasonal weather changes, and food selection was not positively related to protein, lipid, or calcium levels. Food selection was positively related to nitrogen-free extract (NFE) and negatively related to cellulose-lignin (C-L) levels in foods, although contents of these components did not completely explain dove food selection. Seed physical characteristics, secondary compound levels, and/or metabolic efficiences may have influenced food selection. Managers
should evaluate attractiveness of new foods based on relative NFE and C-L levels until the relationship of food attractiveness to these other factors are determined. Results of several experiments on optimal foraging theory supported our hypothesis of a fixed time patch departure strategy among mourning doves; we suggest this may be a general pattern among open area-foraging avian granivores. Results of planting experiments and food preference trials indicate that browntop millet is by far the most cost-efficient option for dove field plantings among the warm-season species that we tested. Winter wheat plantings provided the most benefits for mourning doves during the early breeding season. On the basis of seed yield and cost-efficiency, white and dove proso millets generally appear to be poor choices for planting in Alabama dove fields. These were among the lowest-yielding crops each year despite being among the most preferred foods selected by mourning doves.
Impacts
Data from our publications will provide state agencies faced with declining participation in hunting ways to retain hunters and stimulate more interest in various forms of the sport (e.g., mourning dove hunting). Also, these data will provide the best and most economically feasible foods to plant to attract mourning doves for hunting.
Publications
- Hayslette, S.E., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2002. Mourning doves and salt: Is there an attraction? J. Wildl. Manage. 66:425-432.
- Hayslette, S.E., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2002. Patch use and within patch diet selectivity in mourning doves (Zenaida macroura). Ecology 83:2637-2641.
- Hayslette, S.E., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2002. Is mass loss a useful index of seed deterioration in a terrestrial environment? Proc. Annu. Conf. Southeast. Assoc. Fish and Wildl. Agencies 56: In press.
- Mirarchi, R.E. 2002. What kind of dove is that? Wildlife Trends 2(8):1-3.
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Progress 01/01/01 to 12/31/01
Outputs
All data collection and analyses for the hunting field management phase of the project were completed. Two papers on these data are currently being prepared for journal submission. One dissertation associated with the project was completed. One paper from the dissertation was presented at a national ornithological conference, two papers were published, and two additional papers are currently in press. An additional book chapter on mourning doves and a popular article on the Eurasian collared-dove, a potential exotic competitor with mourning doves, also were published. Additional work on on optimal foraging theory involving mourning doves was completed and submitted for publication. We hypothesized and tested predictions that mourning doves used a fixed time foraging patch departure and an expanding specialist within-patch diet selection strategy. We tested predictions based on these hypotheses and selected alternatives, fixed quitting harvest rate and fixed amount
patch departure strategies, and a generalist diet selection strategy with unequal food encounter rates, in a series of outdoor aviary experiments. Results of all experiments supported our hypothesis of a fixed time patch departure strategy among mourning doves; we suggest this may be a general pattern among open area-foraging avian granivores. A fixed time strategy in this guild may indicate inability to assess patch resource density, possibly due to lack of olfactory capabilities or to efficient foraging in which food intake is fairly constant at all but very low seed densities. Results did not completely support either hypothesized within-patch diet strategy. Despite failure to uphold 1 of 2 predictions based on an expanding specialist strategy, this seems a more likely cause of partial diet preferences among doves in our study than does a generalist strategy with unequal food encounter rates. Additional publications will be processed until the project terminates at the end of this
fiscal year.
Impacts
We anticipate our data will provide state conservation agencies faced with declining participation in hunting ways to retain hunters and stimulate more interest in various forms of the sport. Additionally, other aspects of the study will recommend the most nutritional and economincally feasible foods to plant to attract mourning doves for hunting and viewing.
Publications
- Hayslette, S.E. 2001. Foraging ecology of mourning doves in Alabama. Ph.D. Dissertation, Auburn University. 126 pp.
- Hayslette, S.E., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2001. Foraging patch use and within-patch diet selectivity in mourning doves. The Cooper Ornithological Society Abstracts 71:41.
- Hayslette, S.E., Armstrong, J.B., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2001. Mourning dove hunting in Alabama: Motivations, satisfactions, and socio-cultural influences. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 6:81-95.
- Hayslette, S.E., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2001. Patterns of food preferences in mourning doves. J. Wildl. Manage. 65:816-827.
- Mirarchi, R.E. 2001. Mourning dove. Pages 156-166 in J.G. Dickson, ed. Wildlife of southern forests: habitat and management. Hancock House Publishers, Blaine, WA. 480pp.
- Mirarchi, R.E. 2001. Eurasian collared-dove-new invader of the U.S. Wildlife Trends 1(9):1-3.
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Progress 01/01/00 to 12/31/00
Outputs
Two papers on the human dimension's phase of the project were submitted for publication and presented at regional and national wildlife meetings. One paper is in press and the other has been accepted pending revision. Two additional papers from these data are being prepared for journal submission. Two M.S. theses associated with the project were completed and two papers were presented at our national wildlife meeting. Two papers from the theses are being prepared for journal submission. Analysis of data from the food preference trials, nutritional composition of preferred foods, and the effects of food deterioration on food preferences were completed and four papers from this phase of the project were written and submitted to journals for publication. Two of the papers were accepted pending revision and two others remain in review. One additional paper from this phase of the project will be submitted this year, and two additional papers will be presented at national
wildlife and ornithology meetings. Contrary to predictions, food preferences of mourning doves did not vary with short-term or seasonal weather changes, and food selection was not positively related to protein, lipid, or calcium levels. Food selection was positively related to nitrogen-free extract (NFE) and negatively related to cellulose-lignin (C-L) levels in foods, although contents of these components did not completely explain dove food selection. Seed physical characteristics, secondary compound levels, and/or metabolic efficiencies may have influenced food selection. Managers should evaluate attractiveness of new foods based on relative NFE and C-L levels until the relationship of food attractiveness to these other factors are determined. Results also confirm that mourning doves will consume salt in their environment, particularly during nesting, apparently in response to physiological demand for sodium. However, salt did not appear to attract wild mourning doves, perhaps due
to physiological sodium-conserving mechanisms or the availability of natural sodium sources. Regulations prohibiting salt baiting for dove hunting may not be necessary, although additional research should be conducted in other areas to validate our results. Data collection for the hunting field planting phase of the project was completed. Analysis of the data on seed yields and the costs of planting the various seed types on the different sites began and will be completed this year.
Impacts
We anticipate our data will provide state conservation agencies faced with declining participation in hunting ways to retain hunters and stimulate more interest in various forms of the sport. Additionally, other aspects of the study will recommend the most nutritional and economically feasible foods to plant to attract mourning doves for hunting and viewing.
Publications
- Hayslette, S.E., Armstrong, J.B., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2000. Hunter opinions of mourning dove management on public lands in Alabama. Proc. Assoc. S.E. Fish and Wildl. Agencies 54: In press.
- Hayslette, S.E., Armstrong, J.B., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2000. Mourning dove hunting in Alabama: Motivations, satisfactions, and socio-cultural influences. The Wildlife Society Abstracts 7:110.
- Dallas, D.A. 2000. Morphometric discrimination of age and sex in mourning doves. M.S. Thesis, Auburn University. 57 pp.
- Dallas, D.A., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2000. Morphometric discrimination of age and sex in mourning doves. The Wildlife Society Abstracts 7:83.
- Hammer, J.P. 2000. Mourning dove body composition relative to reproduction. M.S. Thesis, Auburn University. 54 pp.
- Hammer, J.P., Mirarchi, R.E., and Hepp, G.R. 2000. Mourning dove body composition relative to reproduction. The Wildlife Society Abstracts 7:108.
- Hayslette, S.E., and Mirarchi, R.E. 2000. Mourning doves and salt: Is there an attraction? The Wildlife Society Abstracts 7:110.
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Progress 01/01/99 to 12/31/99
Outputs
Analysis of all data collected on the human dimension's phase of the project was completed. One paper was prepared for submission to the Journal of Human Dimensions of Wildlife Research. Data in that paper indicate that childhood socialization clearly was important in developing hunting behavior among both dove and non-dove hunters. Dove hunters began hunting at a younger age and were more likely to be introduced to hunting by older family members than were hunters who did not hunt doves. Attrition rate from dove hunting was low (less than 20 percent), and was unrelated to age of initiation, person initiating hunting, or childhood residence, but was positively associated with those currently living in an urban or urban metro area. Most dove hunters and non-dove hunters appeared motivated by multiple, primarily non-success-based satisfactions, although some hunters were motivated primarily by success. Because of the importance of early socialization and
non-success-based motivations among dove hunters, we encourage programs providing childhood socialization toward dove hunting and management for multiple hunter satisfactions. Two additional papers covering the remaining human dimension data from the study were outlined for submission during the next reporting period. Collection of data on food preference trials, nutritional composition of preferred foods, and the effects of food deterioration on food preferences were completed. Data collection involved use of captive and wild mourning doves offered various foods in a cafeteria-style arrangement. Cultivated and wild seeds were offered to the birds during the peak hunting season months, as were fresh seeds and those demonstrating various stages of deterioration from the elements. Analysis of these data commenced. Data collection on the hunting field planting phase of the project was initiated. Three different field sites in the two different dove hunting zones (north and south) of
Alabama were selected and planted to seeds identified as preferred foods in an earlier phase of the project. Data on seed yields and costs of planting the various seed types on the different sites were collected. Another year of data collection is planned.
Impacts
We anticipate our data will provide state conservation agencies faced with declining participation in hunting ways to retain hunters and stimulate more interest in various forms of the sport ( e.g., mourning dove hunting). Additionally, other aspects of the study will provide recommendations on the best and most economically feasible foods to plant to attract mourning doves for hunting.
Publications
- Sullivan, J.D., Jr., and R.E. Mirarchi. 1999. Molt of after-hatching- year mourning doves. Journal of Wildlife Management 63:223-231.
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Progress 01/01/98 to 12/31/98
Outputs
To insure proper management of Alabama's doves and dove hunting areas, and to increase satisfaction among Alabama's dove hunters, state game managers need additional information on dove hunter characteristics, attitudes, preferences, and behaviors. As such, we developed a survey instrument and drew a sample from two separate lists. The population surveyed included everyone who purchased a hunting license in Alabama for the previous hunting season, plus all Alabama lifetime hunting license holders. This combined population was sampled using a stratified random sampling design to reduce the normal sampling variation and to increase representation. A random number table was used to select the sample by matching the numbers selected from the table to the individual license numbers. The population of Alabama hunters sampled was stratified by hunting license type: state, county, combination hunting and fishing, non-resident annual, non-resident trip, lifetime hunting, and
lifetime hunting and fishing combination. By using the percentage of total population that each license type contributed, along with the 30% that were expected to be dove hunters, an estimated number of dove hunters per license type was established to insure each strata was represented proportionately. Calculated sample sizes were based on a conservative 45% response rate. The minimum number of dove hunters needed to adequately represent the population with an expected response rate of 45% and a 95% confidence interval at alpha = 0.10 was calculated for each strata. These required sample sizes were increased to a minimum of 34 to assure sufficient cases for analysis. A draft questionnaire was submitted to state game and fish personnel for additional suggestions. The questionnaire then was pilot-tested on 35 undergraduate wildlife students to identify and eliminate poorly designed questions. A survey packet containing a cover letter, questionnaire, and return pre-addressed stamped
envelope (PASE) was mailed first class to the stratified sample of 2400 Alabama hunters. A follow-up post-card was mailed one week after the initial mailing to 1904 of the hunters who had yet to respond. The postcard thanked those who had already responded and encouraged those who had not returned their questionnaire to do so. Approximately three weeks after the initial mailing, and after monitoring all received returns and correcting for bad addresses, a second survey packet containing a follow up cover letter, replacement questionniare, and PASE was sent to the remaining 1,379 non-respondents. Approximatley seven weeks after the initial mailing a final survey packet was sent to the remaining 996 non-respondents urging their response. Once the responses to this final mailing ceased, a sample of the remaining non-respondents was contacted and interviewed by telephone to account for any non-response bias. Data compilation and analysis is underway.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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