I examined the relationships of quail and rabbits to agricultural land uses in the Virginia Piedmont during 1986-1987. Bobwhites and cottontails were censused and the associated habitat components quantified at 2 scales: macro-scale at 121 road transect stations, and a micro-scale at 87-foot transect stations. Additionally, the quail's immediate habitat was measured using variables found in the HSI model for northern bobwhite. The paucity of rabbit sightings prevented an analysis of habitat relationships for this species. Relative quail densities decreased from 1986 to 1987 along both road and foot transects (P < 0.05). A model (R² = 0.374) relating relative density of quail at stations to adjacent habitat found positive (P < 0.10) relationships for crop/crop, road/pasture, road/fallow, and "other" edges and negative (P < 0.10) relationships for road/tall grass yard edge and 3 variables describing dense overstory canopies. The presence/absence of quail at foot transect stations was related to habitat characteristics using logistic regression. Wooded fallow fields, the length (m) of pasture/fallow and forest/forest edges, and the total number of all edges present were positively related to quail presence (P < 0.001). Analysis of quail-centered plots indicated quail preferred areas with more woody cover, less grass composing the herbaceous canopy, more bare ground or light litter ( < 2 cm deep), and more honeysuckle canopy than was randomly available (P < 0.05). Management recommendations are to emphasize maximizing the number of different edges present, especially the combinations highlighted by this analysis. Efforts should be made to maximize the number of fallow fields in early successional stages. Cultivation of field borders and corners, waterways, and other idle areas should be discouraged. / Master of Science

The present study examined the role of the relationship between the type and amount of prenatal and postnatal stimulus cues in directing the perceptual preferences of bobwhite quail chicks. Results reveal that chicks prefer postnatal stimulus cues that matched the particular type of prenatal stimulation they received as embryos over stimulus cues that match the amount of prenatal stimulus cues they received. Specifically, when chicks were tested with novel stimuli, or when the preference for matching types of stimulus cues was controlled for, chicks exposed to prenatal auditory/visual cues showed a preference for combined auditory/visual cues over auditory cues presented alone. These findings suggest that exposure to enhanced prenatal auditory/visual stimulation can accelerate chicks perceptual responsiveness. However, this effect can be masked depending upon the relationship between the specific type of auditory stimulus cues used during prenatal exposure and subsequent postnatal testing. Further results indicate that preference for familiar type of stimuli can account for why exposure to enhanced prenatal stimulation does not always appear to accelerate responsiveness to combined auditory/visual cues. Therefore, studies examining the effects of prenatal sensory manipulations on postnatal perceptual responsiveness must take into account the specific nature of the relationship between the type and amount of prenatal and postnatal stimulus cues employed in the experiment. In a more general sense, these results suggest that the study of early perceptual development requires the incorporation of complex, dynamic, and hierarchically based notions about the mechanisms associated with behavioral development. / Ph. D.

Part I of the present study analyzed the acoustic features of bobwhite quail embryonic vocalizations emitted during the final 36 hours prior to hatching. Using software for sound spectrographic analyses, information was collected on the average fundamental frequency, frequency modulation and range, repetition rate, and duration in seconds of notes emitted by the embryos. Based on frequency distributions plotted separately for three of these acoustic features, the vocalizations emitted spontaneously by bobwhite quail embryos were characterized. Although there were not two dichotomous note types to justify adopting the "distress/contentment" terminology utilized by previous researchers of avian vocalizations, there was a distinctive note type with medium note duration and fast repetition rate, as well as a second common note type with short note duration and fast repetition rate. Evidence from precocial neonates of several species indicates that altering the usual prenatal sound environment alters later perceptual performance. Part II of the present study examined the influence of altered prenatal auditory stimulation (in the form of embryonic vocalizations altered in repetition rate) on postnatal auditory preferences in precocial bobwhite quail chicks. Results indicate that when embryos are exposed to altered prenatal auditory stimulation in the period immediately prior to hatching, their postnatal auditory preference behavior is altered. Specifically, when exposed to a repetition rate that is (only slightly) faster than the species-typical rate for embryos, quail hatchlings did not show a strong preference for the maternal call typically seen at 24 hr post-hatch. Chicks that were exposed prenatally to either unaltered auditory stimulation or auditory stimulation with a slower-than-normal repetition rate did demonstrate the species-typical naive auditory preference. These findings illustrate the importance of understanding the subtle experiential links between the prenatal sensory environment and early postnatal perceptually-directed behavior. / Master of Science

The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) population decline is a severe, rangewide phenomenon beginning >150 years ago and continuing today. In this investigation, I: 1. document the timeline of bobwhite population decline and unintended genetic consequences of attempted remedies, 2) develop a model useful for predicting possible locations of potentially sustainable bobwhite populations in semiarid rangeland in Texas and Oklahoma, and 3) examine the relationship between population monitoring data and meteorological factors. While breeding season call counts of male bobwhite have been used for >70 years to provide estimates of fall populations for hunting, most studies of call counts have focused on mathematics and statistical accuracy of the count, largely overlooking the influence of meteorological factors on call counts. Here, I present the results of >4,400 individual point counts and examine their relationship with meteorological variables recorded at each stop. Humidity was positively correlated with the number of birds recorded (ρ = 0.275, p < 0.001) and temperature was negatively correlated (ρ = -0.252, p < 0.001). The number of birds recorded was significantly higher in wet years than in drought years. There was no significant correlation between wind velocity and number of birds recorded. These results suggest that, while weather does influence call counts and efforts should be made to record meteorological conditions when collecting call count data, the influence of weather may not easily factor into the analysis. These results also provide another line of evidence for decreased breeding behavior during high temperatures. With the increased focus on bobwhite habitat management on a regional scale, there is a need for reliable methods to identify potential bobwhite habitat. To identify bobwhite habitat in semiarid rangeland, I performed classification of LANDSAT scenes of Clay County, Texas from July and December 2015. Stands of mature little bluestem provide excellent bobwhite nesting cover and could be identified using LANDSAT imagery. I scored habitat by type, compared these scores with the results of breeding season call counts from 2014 and 2015 and found significant correlation. When used in combination with other landscape data, this approach can provide a regional context to inform conservation and management decisions.

Isolated populations of northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) have declined causing many quail managers to attempt population restoration by releasing captive-reared bobwhites or translocating wild bobwhites. I evaluated three restoration techniques: (1) release of captive-reared bobwhites, (2) translocation of bobwhites from high densities to low densities, and (3) release of captive-reared and translocated bobwhites acclimated on site prior to release. These results show that captive-reared birds have reduced survival and fewer nesting attempts when compared to translocated birds and that acclimation time was not a factor. I hypothesized that high mortality rates were caused by captive-reared birds exhibiting different predator avoidance behavior than wild birds. Captive-reared and wild-trapped bobwhites were subjected to independent predator simulations and their responses were recorded on high definition video. Threat recognition time, reaction type, and reaction time was recorded for comparative analysis. Pen-reared birds recognized the simulated raptorial and terrestrial predator threats quicker than wild-trapped birds, but reaction times were not different among groups. However, the type of reaction was different among groups where pen-reared birds typically flushed immediately upon recognizing either simulated predator as compared to wild-trapped birds which typically ran or held when subjected to the raptorial threat and showed little to no observable reaction to the terrestrial threat. These results reveal a potential loss of a holding trait in pen-reared birds, resulting in a quicker revealing of their position in the presence of a threat, thereby increasing their risk of predation.