Population ecology of the bobwhite

This book presents the results and con­clusions of the longest continuous study ever undertaken for a local North Ameri­can game bird population. Since 1950 abundance has been deter­mined seasonally by direct count, nesting ecology by field searches and observation, and hunting pressure and harvest by field interviews. Land use and weather condi­tions also have been recorded. The period of the study saw considerable change in regional land use and included several of the most severe winters in recorded weather history. Continuing harvest of the study popu­lation did not have a progressively de­pressing effect on standing densities; rather it held breeding stock somewhat below K at a more productive point on the growth curve. Roseberry and Klimstra report that there was clear evidence of an 8 to 10-year cycle within the study population. They found after examining a number of cycle theories that a close temporal relationship existed between their bobwhite data and the nodal lunar cycle described by Archibald (1977). Sound field techniques, long-term data acquisition, and appropriate mathe­matical and statistical treatment of the data combine to provide a significant contribution to what is known of not only bobwhite but basic population ecology.