Survival and Mortality of Ring-necked pheasant chicks in Lower Saxony

Project description

Since 2008 the populations of the Ring-necked pheasant has declined sharply in Germany. The potential factors of this trend are being examined in various projects at the ITAW to provide a comprehensive overview of the causes of the decline. In a multifactorial relationship, various indications relate the negative population development of the pheasant to an increased chick mortality.

The aim of the study is to elaborate the key factors for increased pork mortality in the pheasant in practical approaches and in an ecological context. It is to be assumed that the obtained knowledge can not only apply to pheasant chickens, but also to many other birds of the agricultural country, which populations are also declining.

The use of modern solar GPS tracking stations enables a high-resolution tracking of the exact hens' pathways in breeding and rearing time, and consequently also of the chicks after hatching. Since the chicks are always kept by the hen during the first weeks, the path and the area of ​​use of the hens is identical with those of the chicks.

In addition, free-ranging pheasant chicks are captured, fitted with small weight tags, and subsequently monitored by an automatic vhf detector, so that in addition to the cause of death (such as predation, disease, diet), the survival rates can be shown depending on habitat and food availability.

For a healthy and rapid development during the first three weeks of life pheasant chicks require animal protein in the form of insects. A lack of this protein in this sensitive growth phase can have negative effects on their later development.

Therefore, the study of the food supply in the chickens' living quarters is a further focus of this research project. On the basis of the obtained data on the use of space, survival rates and food availability, a risk assessment is finally made for the survival of pheasant chicks.