Semester of Graduation

Summer 2026

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Renewable Natural Resources

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Southwest Louisiana (SWLA) is an important overwintering region for waterfowl, where sanctuaries and public hunting areas are distributed throughout coastal marshes adjacent to an agricultural region. Rice-crawfish fields in the agricultural region can provide high-energy habitats but may experience intense hunting pressure and aquacultural disturbances (e.g., propane cannons). Despite these resource-disturbance tradeoffs, few have investigated how northern pintails (Anas acuta; hereafter pintail) select areas with varying protected statuses and respond to disturbances throughout the overwintering period. We deployed 108 GPS-GSM transmitters on pintails in January 2023–2025 to investigate movements across SWLA. In Chapter 2, we used an integrated step selection analysis to examine pintail selection of protected status areas, including closed sanctuaries (no public access), partial sanctuaries (public access), public hunt areas, and private lands, across diel (day, night) and hunt periods (hunt, split, postseason). Pintails generally preferred closed sanctuaries over all other areas in the hunting season and split, even at night when hunting ceased. In the postseason, pintails shifted to select for all other areas over closed sanctuaries at night, but not during the day. In Chapter 3, we deployed 5 autonomous recording units (ARUs) within agricultural fields of SWLA in winters 2023–2024 and 2024–2025 to index disturbance patterns. We also paired disturbance data with movements from 88 pintails during January 2024 and 2025 to quantify space-use of ARU areas in response to disturbance. We found no difference in morning volleys between the hunting season and postseason. Overall, evening volleys increased later into winter, likely associated with aquacultural hazing. Diel bird use of ARU areas was not influenced by morning or evening volleys, and, contrary to our predictions, diurnal use of ARU areas did not increase from the hunting season to postseason. Collectively, these results indicate that closed sanctuaries are core areas for wintering pintails in SWLA. Additionally, agricultural areas may provide energy-rich habitats but often contain high disturbance pressures that persist beyond the hunting season and may constrain diurnal use and selection. Therefore, provision of disturbance-free areas with high-quality foraging opportunities, even into the postseason, may be important in supporting pintails wintering in SWLA.

Date

7-29-2026

Committee Chair

Fowler, Drew N.

LSU Acknowledgement

1

LSU Accessibility Acknowledgment

1

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