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Type: Journal Article
Author(s): B. A. Millsap
Publication Date: 2002

I estimated survival rates of a Florida Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia floridana) population on a 35.9-km2 study area in Lee County, Florida, 1987-91 to determine if there was a relationship between annual survival and development density. The study area spanned a residential development density gradient ranging from <2% to >74% of lots with houses. Survival rates were estimated from a sample of 119 banded adult male, 152 adult female, and 310 juvenile Burrowing Owls using Cormack-Jolly-Seber capture-recapture models and Fisher's maximum likelihood method of parameter estimation. Survival rates were estimated separately for sections of the study area where <20% of 0.2-ha lots were developed (i.e., homes built), 20-39% were developed, 40-60% were developed, and >60% were developed. The most parsimonious models indicated that adult male survival was 81% (SE = 0.04) where <20% or >60% of lots were developed, and 62% (SE = 0.05) elsewhere. Adult female survival was 52% (SE = 0.06) where 40-60% of lots were developed and 69% (SE = 0.04) elsewhere. Juvenile survival was 18% (SE = 0.08) where <20% of lots were developed, 43% (SE = 0.08) where 20-39% of lots were developed, 28% (SE = 0.04) where 40-60% of lots were developed, and 11% (SE = 0.03) where >60% of lots were developed. I speculate that the inverse relationship between adult and juvenile survival across development zones reflected the greater recruitment opportunities that existed for juveniles in development zones where adult mortality was high. Patterns of adult mortality more closely tracked trends in the rate of home construction than the density of homes, suggesting factors associated with home building and the attendant landscape changes might result in high Burrowing Owl mortality. © 2002 The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc.

Citation: Millsap, B. A. 2002. Survival of Florida Burrowing Owls along an urban-development gradient. Journal of Raptor Research, v. 36, no. 1, p. 3-10.

Cataloging Information

Regions:
Keywords:
  • Athene cunicularia
  • Athene cunicularia floridana
  • banding
  • burrowing owl
  • burrowing owl
  • demography
  • development
  • fire dependent species
  • Florida
  • Florida
  • mark-recapture
  • population density
  • raptors
  • survival
  • urban wildlife management
  • wildlife management
Tall Timbers Record Number: 27653Location Status: In-fileCall Number: Journals - RAbstract Status: Okay, Fair use, Reproduced by permission
Record Last Modified:
Record Maintained By: FRAMES Staff (https://www.frames.gov/contact)
FRAMES Record Number: 50925

This bibliographic record was either created or modified by Tall Timbers and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of Tall Timbers.