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Seasonal survival of young and adult black grouse females in boreal forests

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Abstract

Direct demographical information from different populations of species in concern may reveal processes to target by management. We estimated seasonal survival rates using data from 253 individual females in a continuous population of black grouse Tetrao tetrix in Central Finland in 2005–2007. The information theoretic model selection included the effects of age class, ecological season, year, and their relevant interactions. We showed a clear difference in the survival of young and older females during late winter, a decrease in female survival during spring, and variation between the study years. The most frequent proximate mortality cause was avian predation, and the avian predation rate was highest in spring.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Ossi Nokelainen and everybody involved in the field work. Carl Soulsbury and three anonymous reviewers provided valuable comments on the manuscript. People providing and moderating the phidot.org analysis forum are also acknowledged. This research was funded by the Academy of Finland (grant nos. 7211271 and 7119165) and the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Evolutionary Research (Academy of Finland). Personal funding to MP was provided by Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, Finnish Culture Foundation, Finnish Foundation for Game Management, Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica, Finnish Nature Conservation Foundation, and Nyyssönen Foundation. This work was undertaken with the permission of the Central Finland Environmental Centre and the Animal Care committee of the University of Jyväskylä.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. box 35, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Miina Pekkola, Rauno Alatalo & Heli Siitari

  2. Joensuu Game and Fisheries Research, Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, Yliopistokatu 6, 80100, Joensuu, Finland

    Hannu Pöysä

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  1. Miina Pekkola
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  2. Rauno Alatalo
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Correspondence to Miina Pekkola.

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Communicated by C. Gortázar

Rauno Alatalo passed away during the preparation of this study.

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Pekkola, M., Alatalo, R., Pöysä, H. et al. Seasonal survival of young and adult black grouse females in boreal forests. Eur J Wildl Res 60, 477–488 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-014-0809-0

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