Bakner Nicholas W, Ulrey Erin E, Wightman Patrick H, Gulotta Nick A, Collier Bret A, Chamberlain Michael J
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
R Soc Open Sci. 2024 May 29;11(5):231938. doi: 10.1098/rsos.231938. eCollection 2024 May.
Wildlife demography is influenced by behavioural decisions, with sleep being a crucial avian behaviour. Avian species use roost sites to minimize thermoregulation costs, predation risk and enhance foraging efficiency. Sleep locations are often reused, forming networks within the home range. Our study, focusing on female eastern wild turkeys () during the reproductive season, used social network analysis to quantify both roost site selection and network structure. We identified roost networks which were composed of a small percentage of hub roost sites connecting satellite roosts. Hub roosts were characterized by greater values of betweenness ( = 0.62, s.e. = 0.02), closeness ( = 0.59, s.e. = 0.03) and eigenvalue centrality ( = 1.15, s.e. = 0.05), indicating their importance as connectors and proximity to the network's functional centre. The probability of a roost being a hub increased significantly with greater eigenvalue centrality. Female wild turkeys consistently chose roost sites at lower elevations and with greater topographical ruggedness. Hub roost probability was higher near secondary roads and further from water. Our research highlights well-organized roost site networks around hub roosts, emphasizing the importance of further investigations into how these networks influence conspecific interactions, reproduction and resource utilization in wild turkeys.
野生动物种群统计学受到行为决策的影响，睡眠是鸟类的一种关键行为。鸟类利用栖息场所来降低体温调节成本、捕食风险并提高觅食效率。睡眠地点通常会被重复使用，在活动范围内形成网络。我们的研究聚焦于繁殖季节的雌性东部野生火鸡（ ），运用社会网络分析来量化栖息场所的选择和网络结构。我们识别出了由一小部分连接卫星栖息地的中心栖息地组成的栖息网络。中心栖息地的特征在于具有更高的中介中心性（ = 0.62，标准误 = 0.02）、接近中心性（ = 0.59，标准误 = 0.03）和特征向量中心性（ = 1.15，标准误 = 0.05），这表明它们作为连接点以及靠近网络功能中心的重要性。随着特征向量中心性的增加，一个栖息地成为中心栖息地的概率显著提高。雌性野生火鸡始终选择海拔较低且地形更崎岖的栖息场所。靠近二级公路且离水源较远的地方，中心栖息地的概率更高。我们的研究突出了围绕中心栖息地的组织良好的栖息场所网络，强调了进一步研究这些网络如何影响野生火鸡的种内相互作用、繁殖和资源利用的重要性。
