Abstract
Despite the importance of green-winged teal (Anas crecca) as a harvested species in North America, recent information on variation in vital rates among regions is lacking. We used band recovery data and hierarchical autoregressive models to examine temporal and age-sex-class variation in survival, hunting mortality, and nonhunting mortality probabilities of green-winged teal banded at Kgun Lake on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA, from 1997–2019. We used data from 10,554 adult and juvenile green-winged teal of known sex and age banded and released at Kgun Lake, and 1,245 hunter recoveries. Estimates of annual survival probability for adult females and males ranged from 0.44 (95% CI = 0.29–0.54) to 0.49 (95% CI = 0.37–0.68) and 0.56 (95% CI = 0.50–0.61) to 0.58 (95% CI = 0.50–0.64), respectively, during our study period. Estimates of annual survival probability for juvenile females and males ranged from 0.36 (95% CI = 0.18–0.56) to 0.46 (95% CI = 0.31–0.71) and 0.51 (95% CI = 0.38–0.61) to 0.56 (95% CI = 0.44–0.71), respectively. Hunting mortality probability was greatest for juvenile males and least for adult females. Hunting mortality probability of juvenile males increased from 0.09 (95% CI = 0.05–0.13) in 1997 to 0.14 (95% CI = 0.11–0.18) in 2015. Nonhunting mortality probability was greater and more variable than hunting mortality probability for all age-sex classes, indicating nonhunting mortality contributed most to total mortality of green-winged teal banded at Kgun Lake during our study. Additionally, survival probability of female green-winged teal banded at Kgun Lake is less than published estimates for green-winged teal banded in the boreal forest of Alaska. We recommend continuing consistent banding operations for green-winged teal on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and other important breeding areas to further understand factors influencing nonhunting mortality and how they may vary seasonally and geographically.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e22223 |
| Journal | Journal of Wildlife Management |
| Volume | 86 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2022 |
Funding
The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not represent views of the USFWS. We thank C. L. Moran and C. M. Harwood for initiating banding operations at Kgun Lake, and M. L. Wege, B. C. Lake, K. M. Sowl, and numerous technicians, volunteers, and staff at Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge and USGS Alaska Science Center that contributed to data collection throughout the duration of our study. We also thank Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge aviation staff and the USFWS regional aviation program for support with field work. Lastly, we thank 2 anonymous reviewers and the editorial staff for their helpful suggestions on earlier versions of this manuscript. J. M. Thompson and B. L. Daniels were supported by the USFWS, T. V. Riecke and C. A. Nicolai were supported by the Delta Waterfowl Foundation, K. A. Spragens was supported by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, M. L. Gabrielson was supported by the United States Forest Service, and B. S. Sedinger was supported by the Kennedy-Grohne Endowment to University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point for Waterfowl and Wetlands Conservation. The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not represent views of the USFWS. We thank C. L. Moran and C. M. Harwood for initiating banding operations at Kgun Lake, and M. L. Wege, B. C. Lake, K. M. Sowl, and numerous technicians, volunteers, and staff at Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge and USGS Alaska Science Center that contributed to data collection throughout the duration of our study. We also thank Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge aviation staff and the USFWS regional aviation program for support with field work. Lastly, we thank 2 anonymous reviewers and the editorial staff for their helpful suggestions on earlier versions of this manuscript. J. M. Thompson and B. L. Daniels were supported by the USFWS, T. V. Riecke and C. A. Nicolai were supported by the Delta Waterfowl Foundation, K. A. Spragens was supported by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, M. L. Gabrielson was supported by the United States Forest Service, and B. S. Sedinger was supported by the Kennedy‐Grohne Endowment to University of Wisconsin‐Stevens Point for Waterfowl and Wetlands Conservation.
| Funders |
|---|
| Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife |
| U.S. Forest Service-Retired |
| Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife |
Keywords
- Alaska
- Anas crecca
- Bayesian
- Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta
- band recovery
- green-winged teal
- mortality
- survival