DOI: 10.5061/dryad.jdfn2z3m5
title: Data from: Non-brooding northern bobwhite resource selection during breeding season in a managed longleaf pine ecosystem

description: Investigating resource selection patterns of declining species is critical
 to developing effective conservation strategies and mitigating negative
 population trends. We trapped and radio-collared northern bobwhite
 (Colinus virginianus) and recorded the location of each individual three
 times per week during the northern bobwhite breeding season (April –
 September) to infer resource selection by non-brooding adults. We defined
 13 vegetation communities with varying fire histories and assessed their
 relative use via a distance-based logistic regression model within a
 Bayesian framework. We found reliable evidence that non-brooding northern
 bobwhite preferred supplemental feed lines, recently burned natural pine
 stands, one-year rough in shrub/scrub, and one-year rough in hardwood-pine
 stands. Conversely, we found they avoided one-year rough in natural pine
 stands, recently burned shrub/scrub, and recently burned hardwood-pine
 stands. Our data suggest that non-brooding bobwhite’s successional stage
 preference may vary between vegetation communities within the same study
 area and adds further evidence to the importance of fire and vegetation
 interspersion in bobwhite management. Results from our study may be
 applied to enhance habitat for non-brooding northern bobwhite and
 potentially increase adult survival, an important metric correlated with
 bobwhite population growth.
description: We determined locations of non-brooding bobwhite three times per
 week during the breeding season to infer third-order resource selection by
 non-brooding adults. We calculated bobwhite utilization distributions
 using the 95% fixed kernel density estimator, and generated 10 random
 points for each known point within each bobwhite's utilization
 distribution. We defined 13 land cover types and used a distance-based
 approach within a Bayesian framework to infer resource
 selection.
description: # Data from: Non-brooding northern bobwhite resource selection during
 breeding season in a managed longleaf pine ecosystem
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jdfn2z3m5](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jdfn2z3m5) ## Description of the data and file structure This dataset supports a study examining resource selection of non-brooding adult northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) during the breeding season (April–September) at a longleaf pine research site in Georgia, USA. We radio-collared bobwhite and collected locations three times per week to assess third-order selection across 13 defined vegetation communities with different fire histories. We used a distance-based approach within a Bayesian logistic regression framework to evaluate relative habitat use. #### File Description Bobwhite Location Data Summer2022Locs.xlsx ##### Summer2023Locs.xlsx Each Excel spreadsheet contains location data for non-brooding bobwhite adults recorded during the 2022 and 2023 breeding seasons. Columns include: Column Description title Unique tracking ID for each individual bobwhite latitude Latitude of observed location (WGS 84) longitude Longitude of observed location northing UTM Northing (Zone 16N) easting UTM Easting (Zone 16N) band_numb Metal leg band number (unique bird ID) date Date of the observation status A = Alive, N = Nesting, B = Brooding, D = Dead ##### Spatial Data – Study Site Land Cover Shapefiles The dataset includes shapefiles defining the 13 vegetation communities present at the study site during each year of data collection. These spatial data were used to calculate distances between individual bobwhite locations and vegetation types for inclusion in the resource selection models. Shapefile sets: 2022_shapefile.* 2023_shapefile.* Each shapefile consists of multiple files commonly used together in GIS: Extension Purpose .shp Stores geometry (polygons representing vegetation communities) .dbf Stores attributes (e.g., vegetation type, burn history, unit ID) .shx Index linking geometry and attributes .prj Contains coordinate reference system info (NAD 1983 UTM Zone 16N) .xml Metadata describing the shapefile .sbn, .sbx Spatial indexing (used by some GIS programs for faster rendering) .cpg Defines character encoding for attribute data Each shapefile includes polygons representing land cover classifications used in the analysis: ## Code/software We analyzed data using R Studio Version 2023.06.1+524. The data is uploaded as an R Markdown (.rmd) file. Required libraries are included in the code. All coding done in R.