Female Wild Turkeys Exhibit Context Dependence in Their Selection of Roads

It is essential for wildlife managers to understand how animals interact with and respond to the landscape. However, wildlife-habitat relationships are often context-dependent, with habitat selection influenced by abiotic and biotic factors. Recognizing this, we investigated how roads influenced female wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris; hereafter female) seasonal habitat selection in Maine, USA, as a function of road type, time-of-day, and land cover type to identify context-dependent responses. Because previous research has demonstrated that wildlife can display variable selection patterns in response to different road types, we assessed differences in selection between primary roads (state roads and highways) and secondary roads (local/township roads). When modeling baseline differences in seasonal habitat selection patterns, we found that females selected areas closer to secondary roads during winter and late spring and selected areas farther from primary roads during long-distance movements in early spring. When modeling differences in selection of roads across time-of-day and season, we found that females selected locations closer to secondary roads during winter and summer mornings, periods typically associated with elevated traffic. When modeling the effect of land cover type on seasonal habitat selection relative to hardwood forest, we found that females selected locations farther from primary and secondary roads in developed landscapes across most seasons. However, relative to hardwood forest, females selected locations closer to primary roads near conifer forest cover during winter. Notably, we observed considerable individual variation in seasonal selection of primary and secondary roads, demonstrating heterogeneity in selection patterns between individuals within the study. Our findings have implications for understanding the temporal risk of wildlife-vehicle collisions and suggest that factors such as season, time-of-day, and the surrounding landscape context of roads influence habitat selection, warranting consideration when evaluating the ecological effects of roads.