Article
Evaluation of supplemental feeding to reduce predation of duck nests in North Dakota
Wildlife Society Bulletin
(2005)
Abstract
During 1996 we examined whether providing predators with supplemental food would reduce predation on duck nests at 10 North Dakota sites. We randomly selected 5 sites to serve as treatment sites where supplemental food (chicken eggs) was provided at feeding stations during the duck-nesting season. The remaining 5 sites served as controls with no supplemental food. During Experiment 1 we distributed approximately 320 chicken eggs/site/week during May and early June, but daily survival rates (DSR) of nests at treatment sites (x̄ = 0.891, SE = 0.018) and control sites (x̄ = 0.939, SE = 0.001) did not differ (F1,4 = 6.54, P = 0.06). During Experiment 2, we distributed 1,600 chicken eggs/site/week in late June and July, but DSR at treatment sites (x̄ = 0.941, SE = 0.016) and control sites (x̄ = 0.954, SE = 0.008) again were similar (F1,4 = 0.72, P = 0.44). Our results indicate that supplemental feeding of predators is ineffective at reducing predation rates on upland duck nests.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2005
DOI
https://doi.org/10.2193/0091-7648(2005)33[1330:EOSFTR]2.0.CO;2
Citation Information
Terry A. Messmer. "Evaluation of supplemental feeding to reduce predation of duck nests in North Dakota" Wildlife Society Bulletin Vol. 33 Iss. 4 (2005) p. 1330 - 1334 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/terry-messmer/239/