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Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in Environmental Sciences

Northern Bobwhite And Fire: A Review And Synthesis, David A. Weber, Evan P. Tanner, Theron M. Terhune Ii, J. Morgan Varner, James A. Martin Sep 2022

Northern Bobwhite And Fire: A Review And Synthesis, David A. Weber, Evan P. Tanner, Theron M. Terhune Ii, J. Morgan Varner, James A. Martin

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Our understanding of the relationship between northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) and fire began with Herbert Stoddard’s work in the early 20th century. Research on the topic has continued, but our application of fire is deeply rooted in Stoddard’s work, even as it has become evident that fire regimes must be adapted to variable environmental conditions that are evolving with a changing landscape and climate. A comprehensive review and synthesis of the literature on this topic would help formalize research advancements since Stoddard and identify knowledge gaps for future research. Results from experiments suggest fire creates favorable …


Bobwhite Response To Cattle Grazing In South Texas, Bradley K. Johnston, J. Alfonso Ortega-S., Leonard A. Brennan, Fidel Hernández, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso Sep 2022

Bobwhite Response To Cattle Grazing In South Texas, Bradley K. Johnston, J. Alfonso Ortega-S., Leonard A. Brennan, Fidel Hernández, Humberto L. Perotto-Baldivieso

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Range management practices to improve habitat for wildlife by reducing brush and increasing herbaceous plants, coupled with reduced stocking rates, can lead to dense stands of dominant grasses, such as four-flower trichloris (Trichloris pluriflora). This monoculture of trichloris creates dense vegetation unsuitable for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite), reduces plant species diversity, and alters ecosystem functions. The objectives of this study are to 1) evaluate the effects of a proper cattle grazing regime to improve bobwhite habitat and 2) develop a management guide documenting how cattle grazing can be used as a tool to reduce …


Efficacy Of A Preemergence Herbicide Following Postemergence Control To Reduce Sericea Lespedeza In Old Fields Managed For Northern Bobwhite, Mark A. Turner, Bonner L. Powell, Craig A. Harper Sep 2022

Efficacy Of A Preemergence Herbicide Following Postemergence Control To Reduce Sericea Lespedeza In Old Fields Managed For Northern Bobwhite, Mark A. Turner, Bonner L. Powell, Craig A. Harper

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata; hereafter, sericea) is a nonnative forb that commonly invades sites managed for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite). Sericea can reduce habitat quality for bobwhite as it outcompetes native plants that provide forage and cover. Bobwhite eat sericea seed, but seed are relatively indigestible and may limit nutrition intake and reduce the fecundity rate. Postemergence herbicides, including glyphosate, triclopyr, and fluroxypyr+triclopyr, control standing sericea, but do not provide preemergence control, which would increase long-term control because sericea annually produces large amounts of hard seed with high dormancy rates. Imazapic is labeled to …


Analysis Of Predator Avoidance Behavior In California Valley Quail, Curt Vandenberg, Jeffrey G. Whitt, Kelly S. Reyna Sep 2022

Analysis Of Predator Avoidance Behavior In California Valley Quail, Curt Vandenberg, Jeffrey G. Whitt, Kelly S. Reyna

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Quail populations have been in decline across the United States, primarily due to habitat loss and climate. For remedy, landowners and game managers have attempted to restore populations by releasing captive-reared quail. These releases were largely unsuccessful, presumably due to high predation losses. Recently, there has been an increased interest in quail translocations, which tend to have lower mortality rates than captive-reared bird releases. Translocations are expensive and unpredictable, and require many person-hours; releasing captive-reared quail would be more efficient if the practice were successful. We compared predator avoidance behavior between captive-reared and wild-translocated California quail (Callipepla californica) …


Home Range And Space Use Of Northern Bobwhite Under Two Different Management Models In Southwestern Missouri, Thomas R. Thompson, Frank L. Loncarich, R. Kyle Hedges Sep 2022

Home Range And Space Use Of Northern Bobwhite Under Two Different Management Models In Southwestern Missouri, Thomas R. Thompson, Frank L. Loncarich, R. Kyle Hedges

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) management in Missouri, USA has traditionally been focused on providing an interspersion of grass, crop, old field, and woody cover juxtaposed to disked idle areas and food plots to maintain bobwhite populations. This traditional model is implemented with the goal of providing all essential habitat components within 40-acre blocks throughout a larger area used by a population. While this model can produce usable bobwhite space in agriculture-dominated landscapes, it may not be the most effective or efficient approach to producing and maintaining bobwhite in grassland-dominated landscapes. In southwestern Missouri native tallgrass prairie …


Northern Bobwhite Demographics And Resource Selection Are Explained By Prescribed Fire With Grazing And Woody Cover In Southwest Missouri, Frank R. Thompson Iii, Mitch D. Weegman, Emily A. Sinnott, Alisha R. Mosloff, Kyle R. Hedges, Frank L. Loncarich, Thomas R. Thompson, Nicholas C. Burrell, Stasia Whitaker, David E. Hoover Sep 2022

Northern Bobwhite Demographics And Resource Selection Are Explained By Prescribed Fire With Grazing And Woody Cover In Southwest Missouri, Frank R. Thompson Iii, Mitch D. Weegman, Emily A. Sinnott, Alisha R. Mosloff, Kyle R. Hedges, Frank L. Loncarich, Thomas R. Thompson, Nicholas C. Burrell, Stasia Whitaker, David E. Hoover

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Understanding the effects of landscape management on northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhite) population growth requires information about seasonal- and stage-specific demographic parameters linked across the annual cycle. We review results to date from 3 years (2016–2018) of an intensive field study evaluating drivers of bobwhite population dynamics and resource selection during the breeding and non-breeding season in southwest Missouri, USA using data from adult and juvenile bobwhite fitted with radio-transmitters. Land cover of our study sites ranged from large blocks of native grasslands maintained with prescribed fire and grazing to more traditional management resulting in small patches …


Adaptive Management And Quail Conservation On Rangelands In The American West, Leonard A. Brennan, Ashley Tanner, Evan P. Tanner Sep 2022

Adaptive Management And Quail Conservation On Rangelands In The American West, Leonard A. Brennan, Ashley Tanner, Evan P. Tanner

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Adaptive management has been and is being practiced with the goal of sustaining populations of wild quails on large areas of rangelands in the American West. Because the current land use practices throughout most of the eastern two-thirds of the United States largely do not promote early-successional vegetation communities, rangelands contain the largest remaining blocks of contiguous (unfragmented) habitat for the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and the other 5 species of quails found in the western states. Many wildlife professionals on both private and public rangelands are practicing a diverse array of quail habitat and population management actions …


Changes In Habitat Use Of Montezuma Quail In Response To Tree Canopy Reduction In The Capitan Mountains Of New Mexico, Ryan S. Luna, Elizabeth A. Oaster, Karlee D. Cork, Ryan O'Shaughnessy Nov 2017

Changes In Habitat Use Of Montezuma Quail In Response To Tree Canopy Reduction In The Capitan Mountains Of New Mexico, Ryan S. Luna, Elizabeth A. Oaster, Karlee D. Cork, Ryan O'Shaughnessy

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Montezuma quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae) are unique among quail with respect to clutch size, diet, covey dynamics, and habitat use. With the exception of a few notable early studies, there is relatively little information on the ecology of Montezuma quail. Pervious research has indicated that one of the primary habitats utilized by Montezuma quail is pinyon–juniper (Pinus spp.–Juniperus spp.) woodlands. Throughout many areas of the southwestern United States, pinyon–juniper woodlands are often targeted for thinning projects. Many studies have been conducted on the amount of canopy cover needed by other quail species. However, data on characteristics of …


Winter Survival And Habitat Selection By Translocated Northern Bobwhite In The New Jersey Pine Barrens: Preliminary Results, Kaili R. Stevens, Philip M. Coppola, Christopher K. Williams, Theron M. Terhune Ii, John P. Parke, John Cecil Nov 2017

Winter Survival And Habitat Selection By Translocated Northern Bobwhite In The New Jersey Pine Barrens: Preliminary Results, Kaili R. Stevens, Philip M. Coppola, Christopher K. Williams, Theron M. Terhune Ii, John P. Parke, John Cecil

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) populations have been experiencing precipitous range-wide declines for more than 50 years; some of the steepest declines occurring in the Mid-Atlantic states. These declines are largely attributed to habitat deterioration from urban sprawl, change in forest management, and intensive farming. This ongoing study aims to evaluate the efficacy of translocating wild bobwhites into the New Jersey Pine Barrens as a means to restore their historic populations. Translocation has proven relatively successful in augmenting bobwhite populations in other regions as well as restoring populations of gallinaceous species. This portion of the study aims to investigate …


Summer Survival Of Translocated Northern Bobwhite In The New Jersey Pine Barrens: Preliminary Results, Philip M. Coppola, Kaili R. Stevens, Christopher K. Williams, Theron M. Terhune Ii, John P. Parke, John Cecil Nov 2017

Summer Survival Of Translocated Northern Bobwhite In The New Jersey Pine Barrens: Preliminary Results, Philip M. Coppola, Kaili R. Stevens, Christopher K. Williams, Theron M. Terhune Ii, John P. Parke, John Cecil

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) have declined precipitously since the 1960s, largely due to habitat deterioration and changes in land use; some of the highest declines have been observed in the Mid-Atlantic States. In other regions, attempts to augment bobwhite populations have been relatively successful using translocation. As part of a long-term restocking program, focal areas for translocation in the mid-Atlantic region were identified by biologists at a National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI) workshop. The objective of this project is to evaluate translocation to restore bobwhite populations in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a focal area designated with a …


Temperature Assessment On A Reclaimed Surface Mine During Northern Bobwhite Breeding Season: Considerations For Habitat Management, Donald M. Yow, Jeremy P. Orange, John J. Morgan, Gary Sprandel, Danna L. Baxley, Eric Williams Nov 2017

Temperature Assessment On A Reclaimed Surface Mine During Northern Bobwhite Breeding Season: Considerations For Habitat Management, Donald M. Yow, Jeremy P. Orange, John J. Morgan, Gary Sprandel, Danna L. Baxley, Eric Williams

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Ground-level air temperatures were assessed within 4 distinct habitat areas on a managed reclaimed surface mine at Peabody Wildlife Management Area, Kentucky, 26 June–17 July 2015, during the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) brood season. Habitat consisted of disked and nondisked areas of native grass and an invasive species, sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata). Disked areas offered more open space for bobwhite mobility and experienced higher average temperatures than nondisked sites. Although statistically significant, differences in air temperature between disked and nondisked areas were likely too small to have practical implications for bobwhite habitat management in Kentucky under …


Monitoring Northern Bobwhite Populations Reduces Uncertainty About Management Effectiveness: A Paradigm Of Empiricism And Hope, Adam W. Green, Dallas P. Grimes, Greg Hagan, Richard Hamrick, Craig Harper, Patrick Keyser, John J. Morgan, I. B. Parnell, Reggie Thackston, Theron M. Terhune Ii, James A. Martin Nov 2017

Monitoring Northern Bobwhite Populations Reduces Uncertainty About Management Effectiveness: A Paradigm Of Empiricism And Hope, Adam W. Green, Dallas P. Grimes, Greg Hagan, Richard Hamrick, Craig Harper, Patrick Keyser, John J. Morgan, I. B. Parnell, Reggie Thackston, Theron M. Terhune Ii, James A. Martin

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) populations have been declining across their range for decades because of habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation. Habitat restoration and management—sometimes coupled with other cultural practices—has long been the paradigm for bobwhite conservation. However, the lack of peer-reviewed empirical evidence supporting the success of active management to increase bobwhite density and growth rates has created skepticism and uncertainty among some conservationists and user groups. Thus, our objectives were to test the basic prediction that active management can increase bobwhite populations across a large spatial extent and highlight the importance of population monitoring to refine management …


Response Of Northern Bobwhites To Habitat Improvement On Private Lands In The Rolling Plains Of Texas, C. Brad Dabbert, Robin Verble-Pearson Nov 2017

Response Of Northern Bobwhites To Habitat Improvement On Private Lands In The Rolling Plains Of Texas, C. Brad Dabbert, Robin Verble-Pearson

National Quail Symposium Proceedings

Northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) in the Rolling Plains of Texas have experienced significant declines in recent years. Examination of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Quail Roadside Counts reveals a steep decline since 2007 in the Rolling Plains of Texas. Biologists only detected 2.91 birds/counting route in 2013. This number marked 2 years in a row of record lows (counts started in 1978) below the long-term mean of 19.7 birds/route (Texas Parks and Wildlife 2015). These numbers are not surprising given the historically damaging drought Texas has suffered. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department counts improved to 7.5 bobwhites/counting …


Effects Of Prescribed Fire And Habitat On Golden-Winged Warbler (Vermivora Chrysoptera) Abundance And Nest Survival In The Cumberland Mountains Of Tennessee, Katie Lee Percy Dec 2012

Effects Of Prescribed Fire And Habitat On Golden-Winged Warbler (Vermivora Chrysoptera) Abundance And Nest Survival In The Cumberland Mountains Of Tennessee, Katie Lee Percy

Masters Theses

Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) populations in Appalachia have declined precipitously over the past 45 years. The primary objective of my study was to monitor the response of Golden-winged Warblers to prescribed fire treatments on reclaimed coal mines in the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area, Tennessee. Presence-absence surveys were conducted on eight mountain-top study sites and nest searching/monitoring was conducted on two additional sites, 2009-2011. I expanded on previous research of Golden-winged Warbler territory and nest-site selection by determining differences within main effects between used and unused territory plots, as well as used and unused nest-sites. Of my two …