Heterogeneous landscapes made up of variegated patches are common among managed ecosystems, and often provide diverse structural and compositional habitat characteristics. Landscape heterogeneity can affect distribution of resources, competition, and dispersal of organisms over space and time. Therefore, understanding how species respond to dynamic landscapes is necessary when implementing management decisions that foster biodiversity within managed ecosystems. My study uses hierarchical models in a Bayesian framework to quantify effects of landscape context on meso-mammal predators and northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) occupancy in an intensively managed loblolly pine forest. Results indicate that edge density can positively influence occupancy of meso-mammal predators, while age of stand, or years since disturbance, can negatively influence occupancy of northern bobwhite. These results further illustrate the importance of considering biodiversity implications when making management decisions.

Pine savannas of the Southeastern United States are generally managed using prescribed fire, which creates the vegetation structure required by their associated fauna. However, little is known about the effects that size and spatial pattern of prescribed fire have on wildlife. During a 3 year radio-telemetry study, I monitored movement and hazard of adult bobwhites in a landscape managed with prescribed fires of varying size. I also monitored growth and survival of bobwhite chicks in response to fire size and spatial pattern. Adult movement was negatively related to percentage of home range burned. Hazard rates were negatively related to movement and percentage of home range burned. Chick growth was negatively related to movement and home range size. Chick survival was positively related to percentage of home range burned, and likelihood of brood success was negatively related to hatch date and positively related to number of eggs hatched.

Imprinting studies have traditionally stressed the importance of visual features in the formation of early postnatal attachments. However, recent studies by Johnston & Gottlieb (1981, 1985) have demonstrated that visually imprinted preferences can be altered by the maternal call. Thus, in the present study the interaction between natural visual and auditory stimulation in the control of filial behavior was examined in bobwhite quail chicks during the first 4 days of postnatal life. Previous research has revealed that bobwhite quail hatchlings are differentially responsive to their species-specific maternal call in the period right before and immediately following hatching (Heaton, Miller & Goodwin, 1978). Results from this study indicate that quail chicks begin to lose this naive preference for their maternal call over a non-conspecific call (a domestic chicken maternal call) by 72 hrs following hatch, and do not respond to either the bobwhite call or chicken call by 96 hrs following hatch. However, differential responsiveness to the bobwhite call can be reinstated in bobwhite chicks at 72 hrs and 96 firs following hatching if the birds are provided with integrated audiovisual stimulation (i.e., a quail hen model emitting the maternal call). These results suggest that in the initial stages of postnatal development, species identification in bobwhite quail is based primarily on the auditory component of maternal stimulation. Later in development, combined auditory and visual stimulation appears necessary to control species-specific filial behavior despite the fact that auditory cues remain dominant over visual cues. These findings conform well to what is known about the neuroembryological development of sensory systems, in that the auditory system of birds (and mammals) develops in advance of the visual system. This prenatal sequence of sensory system development appears to influence the sequence of early postnatal perceptual preferences in precocial avian neonates. / Master of Science

The issue of the relative importance of early vs. delayed experience to behavioral development has proven to be a difficult one to address empirically. I focused on this issue by manipulating the timing of the onset of visual experience of avian embryos and hatchlings. Normally reared bobwhite quail chicks are known to require only maternal auditory cues to direct their social preferences in the first days following hatching. However, by 3 days following hatching quail chicks require both auditory and visual cues to direct their social preferences. In contrast, birds which have received unusually early visual experience as embryos require both auditory and visual cues on the day following hatching, indicating an accelerated pattern of the emergence of this type of early intersensory functioning. Hatchlings reared under conditions of delayed visual experience (deprivation) continue to rely on maternal auditory cues alone up to 4 days following hatching, and do not demonstrate a preference for combined audio-visual cues, indicating a decelerated pattern of the emergence of this type of early intersensory functioning. Here I report that quail chicks that received both early visual experience as embryos and delayed visual experience as hatchlings exhibit a pattern of intersensory functioning similar to that seen in normally reared chicks. That is, they do not require combined auditory and visual cues to direct their social preferences until 3 days following hatching. These results indicate that, at least under the present experimental conditions, the influence of early and delayed visual experience on the development of intersensory functioning is essentially equivalent. These findings are discussed in terms of the role of timing of sensory experience in early perceptual organization. / Master of Science

no abstract provided by author / Master of Science

The present study examined whether previously reported effects of altered prenatal sensory experience on the subsequent acceleration of intersensory functions are mediated by mechanisms sensitive to the overall amount of stimulation. Results reveal that chicks exposed to augmented amounts of prenatal visual stimulation show interference in subsequent species-typical perceptual development. Specifically, chicks continued to respond to maternal auditory cues into later stages of postnatal development and failed to respond to maternal visual cues at the age when normally reared chicks to exhibit this species-specific ability. Embryos in this study also failed to demonstrate early auditory learning of an individual maternal call, a behavior reliably seen in unmanipulated embryos. These findings suggest that substantially increased amounts of visual stimulation appear to prevent the emergence of species-typical patterns of intersensory functioning and lend support to the notion that stimulation that falls within some optimal range seems to maintain or facilitate normal patterns of perceptual functioning, while stimulation beyond the range of the species norm appears to result in intersensory interference. / Master of Science

This investigation was conducted to determine the ecology and dynamics of Massachusetts quail populations, and to interpret the findings in terms of practical management of the resource. Weight data collected during the course of the study support the thesis that the northeastern coastal quail population may be separated, subspecifically. Declines in quail populations in Massachusetts during the past century probably resulted from a deterioration in habitable range. Present populations are apparently limited to areas of farming activity. Coastal populations are probably less dependent on a strictly agricultural environment than inland populations. No statistically significant change in quail populations was observed between 1952 and 1956, based on whistle-count census data. A probable increase in 1954 was detected, however, in both the whistle-count census and in age composition data. An analysis of 772 hatching dates for three years indicated that early and successful nesting occurred in Massachusetts quail populations. Weight studies showed that all sex and age segments of the quail population were heaviest during early January, and lightest in April. No weight difference between sexes was observed. Adults were significantly heavier than juveniles throughout the winter. but weight differences between the age segments decreased as winter progressed. Comparisons of spring and fall movement among individual quail indicated that spring movement was greater than in the fall. A 30 per cent increase in six months was observed for the total population of a 1790-acre area that was intensively managed using annual grains. A significant increase occurred simultaneously in the percentage of juveniles in the same population. Data collected from an expanding insular quail population indicated that summer gains were inversely related to spring population densities, and that a decrease in the percentage of juveniles might be attributed to post-nesting mortality. The insular population was maintained using “bucket-type" feeders at a cost of $4.00 per additional bird. Plantings of perennial shrub lespedezas apparently were of limited value to quail. Likewise, predator control and refuge establishment were thought to be ineffective techniques. The use of narrow-strip annual grain plantings with maximum edge in areas reverting to non-productive habitat apparently provides the most economical ($2.50 per bird) and practical means of increasing quail populations. Except in very special cases, the artificial propagation and release of quail was found to be unwise. Studies of hunting pressure and total kill suggest that effort should be directed to liberalize hunting restrictions if greater utilization of the resource is to be realized. / Ph. D.

These studies examined the effects of altered developmental experience (rearing history) and altered behavioral context (testing environment) on the alarm call responsiveness of maternally naive, incubator-reared bobwhite quail chicks. Experiment 1 assessed alarm call responsiveness in socially-reared, socially-tested hatchlings across the first 96 hours following hatch. No significant age effects were revealed. Hatchlings tested at 24 hours did not differ significantly from birds tested at 48, 72, or 96 hours on the two principle behavioral measures (number of grid crossings and vocalizations per one-minute trials). Experiment 2 assessed whether hatchlings' alarm call responsiveness is at least partially dependent on the availability of cover (i.e., hiding sites) in the testing situation. No significant differences in responding were found in comparisons between hiding sites and social (non-hiding sites) testing conditions. However, behavioral observations did indicate that hatchlings in the hiding site condition utilized the hiding site as an attractor, in that chicks typically huddled and froze around the hiding site structure. Experiment 3 examined the relative effects of individual testing on socially-reared bobwhite quail hatchlings. Results revealed that individually tested hatchlings increased their locomotor activity following initial exposure to the maternal alarm call when compared to socially tested chicks. Vocalizations were significantly reduced in post-alarm call testing from pre-alarm call levels. However, hatchlings tested individually had higher levels of vocal activity when compared to socially tested chicks. In comparison with socially-reared/socially-tested subjects, socially-reared/individually tested subjects were more active following exposure to the maternal alarm call than they were prior to exposure to the call. Results from the three experiments are discussed in terms of species-typical experience and development. It is maintained that species-typical responding to the bobwhite maternal alarm call is partially influenced by social context. An argument for continued polythetic research on behavioral development in avian communication is also made. / Master of Science

Since their emergence in the early 1990s, neonicotinoid use has increased exponentially to make them the world's most prevalent insecticides. Although there is considerable research concerning the lethality of neonicotinoids, their sub-lethal and developmental effects are still being explored, especially with regards to non-mammalian species. The goal of this research was to investigate the effects of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid on the morphological and physiological development of northern bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus). Bobwhite eggs (n = 650) were injected with imidacloprid concentrations of 0 (sham), 10, 50, 100 and 150 grams per kilogram of egg mass, which was administered at day 0 (pre-incubation), 3, 6, 9, or 12 of growth. Embryos were dissected on day 19 when they were weighed, staged, and examined for any overt structural deformities. Embryonic heart, liver, lungs and kidneys were also weighed and preserved for future use. Treated embryos exhibited increased frequency of severely deformed beaks and legs, as well as larger hearts and smaller lungs at the higher dosing concentrations. Some impacts are more pronounced in specific dosing periods, implying that there may be critical windows of development when embryos are highly susceptible to neonicotinoid exposure. This investigation suggests that imidacloprid could play a significant role in chick survival and declining quail populations in treated regions of the country.

Northern bobwhite populations have declined concurrent with global warming. The focal period of this study was the 12-d pre-incubation period, when bobwhite eggs remain in the nest without the thermal protection of the incubating parent. This study first established the storage and thermal limits of bobwhite eggs, then investigated how global warming may impact oviparous embryos and how bobwhite embryos react to acute and chronic doses of simulated drought temperatures during pre-incubation. First, the maximum storage limit of bobwhite eggs was determined by storing eggs ≤21 d and measuring hatching success and pH of egg albumen and yolk. Hatching success of stored eggs declined after 14 d, when yolk and albumen pH reached levels detrimental to embryonic development. Secondly, thermal limits were determined by exposing bobwhite eggs to hyperthermic temperatures (38-52 °C). Bobwhite embryos survived 50 °C for 1 h, 49 °C for 3 h and 46 °C for 6 h. Results indicate an adaptation to the naturally occurring temperature extremes that can occur in the bobwhite's southern range during pre-incubation. Subsequently, bobwhite eggs were exposed to either low constant (LC), low fluctuating (LF), high constant (HC), or high fluctuating (HF) temperatures during pre-incubation to determine if the nature of temperatures differentially affected development. Although eggs exposed to high heat loads (HC and HF), and low heat loads (LF and LC) had equal heating degree-hours within groups, they exhibited differential growth during pre-incubation. Oxygen consumption, hatch timing, and hatching success were also affected by the thermal regimes. Eggs in simulated drought (HF) had a 47% lower hatch rate than eggs in simulated non-drought (LF) indicating that thermal stress during pre-incubation may contribute to population declines during drought. Finally, northern bobwhite eggs were exposed to acute or chronic doses of simulated drought temperatures, which tested for critical periods of development during pre-incubation. Collectively, data indicated that the earliest stages of bobwhite development were more affected by hyperthermic temperatures. Indeed, a critical period of development exists during the first 2/3 of pre-incubation during which exposure to hyperthermic temperatures results in aberrant development, hatching plasticity, and reduced hatch rates.