Responses of Bobwhites To Management In Illinois
Ellis JA, Edwards WR, Thomas KP. 1969. Responses of Bobwhites To Management In Illinois. The Journal of Wildlife Management. 33(4):749-761
Populations of bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) responded favorable to habitat management programs in southern Illinois based on a combination of sharecropping and prescribed burning, and on burning alone. The programs based on burning and sharecropping offer pronounced economic advantages over those based on intensive planting of food and cover. Populations on study areas managed under an intensive system of annual food patches and cover plantings were not successful when measured against regional indices of quail abundance. Management, to be effective, must recognize the bobwhite as a successional species and must provide appropriate pattern of succession. Creation of appropriate patterns of succession requires a system of periodic disturbance. The goal is to manage succession, not to develop a habitat. Programs of prescribed burning and sharecropping offer a basis for management that can be both ecologically sound and economically feasible.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Ellis, Jack; Edwards, William; Thomas, Keith
- Units
- OZAR
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Birds (Aves), Habitat, northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), Ozark National Scenic Riverways Missouri, Succession, upland gamebird