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The Ecology of Wild Turkey Foraging in Pacific Northwest Ecosystems

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The Ecology of Wild Turkey Foraging in Pacific Northwest Ecosystems AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Sara Tondee Evans-Peters for the degree of Master of Science in Wildlife Sciences presented on September 13, 2013. Title: The Ecology of Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) Foraging in Pacific Northwest Ecosystems Abstract approved: ______________________________________________________________________________ Bruce D. Dugger Abstract Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) were first successfully introduced into Oregon and Washington in the 1960s; the population has grown in size and expanded in distribution to a point where it provides an important recreational hunting opportunity in both states that generates significant funds for habitat conservation and contributes financially to local economies. Wild turkeys are not native to Oregon or Washington leading some to question if turkeys should be actively managed as a game bird. While no detrimental effects of turkeys have been documented in either state, there has been virtually no research on the biology and ecology of turkeys in Oregon and Washington to contribute information that aids in managing the species and informing the debate about managing for the persistence of a non-native species. In this thesis, I quantify the diet of turkeys in Oregon and Washington and determine if wild turkeys are endozoochorously dispersing the seeds of plants they consume. Contributing information about the basic biology of turkeys could aid management and help contribute to a mechanistic understanding of how turkeys might help shape ecosystem structure and function. I characterized the diet of wild turkeys in Oregon and Washington by examining the crops of hunter harvested and collected turkeys (n = 536) during three time periods (fall-winter, spring and summer) from four geographic regions during 2009-2011. I compared diet composition among regions and between seasons at both a broad categorical level (i.e., fruits, leaves, flowers, invertebrates and underground plant parts) and at the level of individual taxa. Based on previous research, I predicted that consumption of leaves, flowers, and invertebrates would be higher in spring and consumption of fruits would be highest in fall in all regions, but specific taxa that comprised each broad category of food would vary among regions. I detected 123 plant and 35 invertebrate taxa in turkey crops. Consistent with my prediction, wild turkeys consumed significantly more fruits in fall/winter and more leaves and flowers in the spring; contrary to my prediction, invertebrate consumption was higher in fall-winter for three of the four regions. Grasses (Poaceae) were the most common leafy material consumed in all regions during both fall-winter and spring and the most common fruits consumed in all regions during both seasons except in one region, in spring, where oak acorns (Quercus sp.) dominated the diet. Within the grass family, wheat (Triticum sp.) was the most abundant seed in all regions in fall-winter and the most abundant seed in 2 regions in spring while corn (Zea sp.) was the most abundant seed in the remaining regions in spring. The only other plant families that comprised >5% of aggregate percent dry mass within regions (all food categories combined) included Rosaceae, Pinaceae, Fagaceae and Asteraceae in fall- winter and Fabaceae, Fagaceae, Asteraceae, Pinaceae, and Ranunculaceae in spring. Grasshoppers (Acrididae) were the most abundant invertebrate taxa in fall-winter while snails (Gastropoda) were the most abundant invertebrate in spring. Aggregate percent dry mass of food items differed by season for each region and differed among regions when analyzed by season. Within each region, numerous taxa were unique and indicative of season (range: 2-18) but fewer taxa were indicative of region (range: 0-9) indicating there was more variation in diet between seasons than among regions. To examine dispersal capabilities, we recovered seeds contained within wild turkey feces (30 feces/sample, n = 50 samples) during the fall-winter between 2009 and 2011. Twenty-two taxa of seeds were found intact and 9 of those were viable (41%) based on tetrazolium testing. Viability ranged from 2-70%, Fabaceae sp. (pea family) had the highest viability (70%) followed by Toxicodendron sp. (poison oak-ivy, 24.5%) and Symphoricarpos sp. (snowberry, 11.6%); the viability of the remaining 6 taxa was below 10%. The majority of seed taxa present in wild turkey diet in Oregon and Washington were not represented in fecal samples indicating turkeys destroy the majority of taxa consumed during the digestive process. Though wild turkeys appear to be primarily a seed predator, I found they are successfully dispersing 14.5% of the seed taxa identified in the diet. Most taxa identified in the diet and fecal samples were identified to family and there are natives and non-native species within those families. My results do not conclusively document any direct or indirect impacts of turkeys on native plants or wildlife, but do provide a baseline for considering impacts and future information needs. © Copyright by Sara Tondee Evans-Peters September 13, 2013 All Rights Reserved The Ecology of Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) Foraging in Pacific Northwest Ecosystems by Sara Tondee Evans-Peters A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Presented on September 13, 2013 Commencement June 2014 Master of Science thesis of Sara Tondee Evans-Peters presented on September 13, 2013. APPROVED: ________________________________________________________________________ Major Professor, representing Wildlife Science ________________________________________________________________________ Head of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife ________________________________________________________________________ Dean of the Graduate School I understand that my thesis will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my thesis to any reader upon request. ________________________________________________________________________ Sara Tondee Evans-Peters, Author ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Though my name appears solely on the cover of this document, a great many people have contributed to its production. I owe my gratitude to the combined force of all those people that made this project possible and to them I credit my graduate experience; an incredible adventure that changed the trajectory of my life forever. In the course of my fieldwork, data analysis and manuscript preparation, there are always a few people whose contributions make the work more robust and the endeavor more rewarding. My deepest gratitude is to my advisor, Dr. Bruce Dugger. I have been amazingly fortunate to have an advisor who gave me the freedom to explore on my own and at the same time guidance to recover when I took steps in the wrong direction. Bruce taught me how to question assumptions and express ideas. His patience and encouragement helped me overcome many crisis situations and I will always look to him as mentor and friend. I also thank my committee members Dr. Clinton Epps and Dr. Richard Halse; Dr. Epps for his contributions to sample collections and Dr. Halse for his countless hours, patience and support with plant identification and botanical expertise. Numerous other faculty and staff within the Oregon State family helped me along the way, and I would especially thank Dr. Bruce McCune for statistical advice and Dr. Darrell Ross for his assistance with invertebrate identification. Sample processing was a large component of this project and it took a small army of dedicated individuals to accomplish this task. I thank my technicians: Cameron King, Trevor Fox, Allison Field, Kerstin Beerweiler, Tucker Doyle and Erin Harrington. I would especially like to thank Cameron King for his technical assistance with plant identification and for helping me work out the kinks of the project during its early stages. His dedication to the project and his independent critical thinking allowed me to focus on other tasks with little oversight. The continued support of the Dugger Lab, past and present, has been instrumental in this project. Thank you to Lance Wyss, Blake Barbaree, Gary Ivey, Erin Harrington and Kevin Buffington for their support and contributions in the course of my fieldwork, data analysis and thesis preparation and thank you Chris Malachowski for assisting with data analysis and thesis preparation. Lastly, I express utmost gratitude to Dr. Anne Mini not just for her unwavering academic, technical and emotional support but most importantly, her friendship. Funding for my project was provided by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the United States Forest Service and Department of Fish and Wildlife at Oregon State University. I also thank Oregon Hunters Association, the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ifish.net and Strand Outdoors for supporting project awareness and facilitating sample collections. I express gratitude to the many state district biologists and staff for their time, knowledge and assistance facilitating sample collection throughout this project including Dave Budeau, Mick Cope, Tom Lum, Steve Denney, Jeremy Thompson, Joey McCanna, Nick Leonetti, Michael Moore, Richard Green, Vince Oredson, Brandon Reishus, Mark Vargas, Sue VanLeuven and all the other state agency staff from across Oregon and Washington that made this project possible. Additionally, I would like to thank Monty Gregg
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