{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97407"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97407","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Dangerous misperceptions with consequences: survival of Eastern cottontails on restored grasslands surrounded by agriculture","abstract":"Habitat loss and degradation is a main threat to biodiversity, and the expansion of intensive agricultural practices has negatively affected wildlife populations worldwide. To counteract these effects, large-scale restoration programs have been developed. In the Midwestern United States, where tallgrass prairies have been reduced by >99%, the Conservation Reserve Program has created patches of grassland habitat within a larger matrix dominated by agricultural fields that are temporally dynamic due to planting and harvesting of crops. The effects of the surrounding landscape on restoration success of wildlife species is largely unknown. My main objective was to examine how landscape processes interact with real and perceived predation risk to affect survival of a key herbivore and important prey species, the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), in restored grassland habitats and the surrounding agricultural matrix. From June 2014 through June 2016, I radio-collared 95 cottontails and tracked their movements until the transmitter failed or mortality occurred. I then constructed known-fate models in program MARK to identify factors that affected survival rates. I also conducted giving-up density (GUD) experiments in grasslands and adjacent agricultural fields to determine if there were differences in perceived predation risk. As expected, survival of cottontails was higher when they used restored grasslands relative to when they used surrounding habitats. Contrary to my prediction, however, cottontails did not accurately perceive predation risk as they perceived agricultural fields to be safer than grasslands. This mismatch could be due to their emphasis on protecting themselves from avian predation rather than mammalian predation. However, mammals were the main predators in this system, predominately coyotes (Canis latrans). My study demonstrates how adjacency of restoration sites to other landscape elements can produce unintended consequences and highlights the complexities of achieving restoration in a highly altered landscape.","abstract_html":"Habitat loss and degradation is a main threat to biodiversity, and the expansion of intensive agricultural practices has negatively affected wildlife populations worldwide. To counteract these effects, large-scale restoration programs have been developed. In the Midwestern United States, where tallgrass prairies have been reduced by >99%, the Conservation Reserve Program has created patches of grassland habitat within a larger matrix dominated by agricultural fields that are temporally dynamic due to planting and harvesting of crops. The effects of the surrounding landscape on restoration success of wildlife species is largely unknown. My main objective was to examine how landscape processes interact with real and perceived predation risk to affect survival of a key herbivore and important prey species, the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), in restored grassland habitats and the surrounding agricultural matrix. From June 2014 through June 2016, I radio-collared 95 cottontails and tracked their movements until the transmitter failed or mortality occurred. I then constructed known-fate models in program MARK to identify factors that affected survival rates. I also conducted giving-up density (GUD) experiments in grasslands and adjacent agricultural fields to determine if there were differences in perceived predation risk. As expected, survival of cottontails was higher when they used restored grasslands relative to when they used surrounding habitats. Contrary to my prediction, however, cottontails did not accurately perceive predation risk as they perceived agricultural fields to be safer than grasslands. This mismatch could be due to their emphasis on protecting themselves from avian predation rather than mammalian predation. However, mammals were the main predators in this system, predominately coyotes (Canis latrans). My study demonstrates how adjacency of restoration sites to other landscape elements can produce unintended consequences and highlights the complexities of achieving restoration in a highly altered landscape.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Nawrocki, Julia A"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Natural Res & Env Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Schooley, Robert L.","Ward, Michael P.","Heske, Edward J."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-08-10T19:15:28Z","date_published":"2017-08-10T19:15:28Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:34Z","subjects":["Eastern cottontail","Restoration","Restored grasslands","Agroecosystem","Perceived risk","Survival","Giving-up density"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2017 Julia Nawrocki"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97407","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Schooley, Robert L.","Ward, Michael P.","Heske, Edward J."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Nawrocki, Julia A"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2017-08-10T19:15:28Z","2017-04-27","2017-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Natural Res & Env Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Eastern cottontail","Restoration","Restored grasslands","Agroecosystem","Perceived risk","Survival","Giving-up density"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2017 Julia Nawrocki"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97407"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Habitat loss and degradation is a main threat to biodiversity, and the expansion of intensive agricultural practices has negatively affected wildlife populations worldwide. To counteract these effects, large-scale restoration programs have been developed. In the Midwestern United States, where tallgrass prairies have been reduced by >99%, the Conservation Reserve Program has created patches of grassland habitat within a larger matrix dominated by agricultural fields that are temporally dynamic due to planting and harvesting of crops. The effects of the surrounding landscape on restoration success of wildlife species is largely unknown. My main objective was to examine how landscape processes interact with real and perceived predation risk to affect survival of a key herbivore and important prey species, the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), in restored grassland habitats and the surrounding agricultural matrix. From June 2014 through June 2016, I radio-collared 95 cottontails and tracked their movements until the transmitter failed or mortality occurred. I then constructed known-fate models in program MARK to identify factors that affected survival rates. I also conducted giving-up density (GUD) experiments in grasslands and adjacent agricultural fields to determine if there were differences in perceived predation risk. As expected, survival of cottontails was higher when they used restored grasslands relative to when they used surrounding habitats. Contrary to my prediction, however, cottontails did not accurately perceive predation risk as they perceived agricultural fields to be safer than grasslands. This mismatch could be due to their emphasis on protecting themselves from avian predation rather than mammalian predation. However, mammals were the main predators in this system, predominately coyotes (Canis latrans). My study demonstrates how adjacency of restoration sites to other landscape elements can produce unintended consequences and highlights the complexities of achieving restoration in a highly altered landscape.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2017-08-10 without embargo terms","The student, Julia Nawrocki, accepted the attached license on 2017-04-19 at 11:25.","The student, Julia Nawrocki, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2017-04-19 at 11:40.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2017-04-27 at 08:12.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #10896 on 2017-08-10 at 13:42:33","Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-10T19:15:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 NAWROCKI-THESIS-2017.pdf: 1042080 bytes, checksum: 114f58eeae3d12767e0c0464b2c0660c (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4211 bytes, checksum: 66d4dd5f8cf926966813ebb170c01e45 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-27"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Dangerous misperceptions with consequences: survival of Eastern cottontails on restored grasslands surrounded by agriculture"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Schooley, Robert L.","Ward, Michael P.","Heske, Edward J."],"dc:creator":["Nawrocki, Julia A"],"dc:date":["2017-08-10T19:15:28Z","2017-04-27","2017-05"],"dc:description":["Habitat loss and degradation is a main threat to biodiversity, and the expansion of intensive agricultural practices has negatively affected wildlife populations worldwide. To counteract these effects, large-scale restoration programs have been developed. In the Midwestern United States, where tallgrass prairies have been reduced by >99%, the Conservation Reserve Program has created patches of grassland habitat within a larger matrix dominated by agricultural fields that are temporally dynamic due to planting and harvesting of crops. The effects of the surrounding landscape on restoration success of wildlife species is largely unknown. My main objective was to examine how landscape processes interact with real and perceived predation risk to affect survival of a key herbivore and important prey species, the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), in restored grassland habitats and the surrounding agricultural matrix. From June 2014 through June 2016, I radio-collared 95 cottontails and tracked their movements until the transmitter failed or mortality occurred. I then constructed known-fate models in program MARK to identify factors that affected survival rates. I also conducted giving-up density (GUD) experiments in grasslands and adjacent agricultural fields to determine if there were differences in perceived predation risk. As expected, survival of cottontails was higher when they used restored grasslands relative to when they used surrounding habitats. Contrary to my prediction, however, cottontails did not accurately perceive predation risk as they perceived agricultural fields to be safer than grasslands. This mismatch could be due to their emphasis on protecting themselves from avian predation rather than mammalian predation. However, mammals were the main predators in this system, predominately coyotes (Canis latrans). My study demonstrates how adjacency of restoration sites to other landscape elements can produce unintended consequences and highlights the complexities of achieving restoration in a highly altered landscape.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2017-08-10 without embargo terms","The student, Julia Nawrocki, accepted the attached license on 2017-04-19 at 11:25.","The student, Julia Nawrocki, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2017-04-19 at 11:40.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2017-04-27 at 08:12.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #10896 on 2017-08-10 at 13:42:33","Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-10T19:15:28Z (GMT). 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