The Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) has undergone losses of bottomland hardwood forests due to agricultural conversion. Hardwood establishment on marginal croplands has been proposed to mitigate effects of deforestation and related loss of carbon-capture potential. However, a possible concern with reforestation is low seedling survival from mammalian herbivory. I surveyed two afforested fields in the MAV of northwest Mississippi to assess damage and mortality from four herbivores on nine species of hardwood seedlings (n = 868). Percentage survival of seedlings was 35%. Mortality of seedlings caused by herbivores was: hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus; 6.45%), rabbit ((Sylvilagus spp.; 1.95%), pine vole (Microtus pinetorum; 2.99%), and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginiana; 0.69%). Of surviving seedlings (n = 316), 10.82% were damaged by cotton rats, pine vole (2.99%), rabbit (8.06%), and deer (7.02%). Green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), water oak (Quercus nigra), and Nuttall oak (Quercus nuttallii) had greatest survival.

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To determine the causes for low hunter kill and presumed poor population growth of the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) herd in the High Knob (HK) area of Scott and Wise Counties, Virginia, the relative abundance and nutritional status of the deer herd and the habitat quality of the HK area were studied relative to a deer herd and an area in the Stony Creek (SC) section of Giles County, Virginia, known to produce deer of good physical size and antler development and sustained high hunter harvests. Pellet-group surveys, deer collections in September and March, check station data on hunter-killed deer, soil sampling, and quantitative and qualitative forage analyses were used in assessing the HK deer herd and area. The extent to which poaching, free-roaming dogs, and winter weather might be affecting the HK deer herd also was investigated. Pellet group density was significantly lower (P = 0.004) at HK relative to SC and was believed to be indicative of a somewhat lower herd density at HK. In September, the condition of the HK deer herd was similar to that of the SC deer herd. However, the average number of parasites in the abomasums of HK deer was significantly greater (P = 0.0002) than in the abomasums of SC deer. Yearling bucks killed by hunters at HK had significantly lower eviscerated body weights (P = 0.0001), while all bucks killed by hunters at HK had smaller antler beam diameters (P = 0.006) and fewer antler points (P = 0.0001) relative to hunter-killed deer at SC. Because of an abnormally abundant acorn crop at SC in the fall of 1985 and an abnormally mild winter at HK and an abnormally severe winter at SC in 1986-87, the nutritional condition of the HK deer herd relative to the SC deer herd in March in a "normal" year was difficult to ascertain. However, it was inferred that in a "normal" year the HK deer herd would be in worse physical condition in March relative to the SC deer herd. Soil pH, organic matter, and mineral levels were significantly lower (P < 0.1) at HK than at SC. The HK area had significantly greater (P < 0.1) quantities of various vegetation categories than did the SC area in September, 1986. Quantities of common forages consumed by deer in winter were believed to be similar or slightly lower at HK than at SC. However, the average yearly biomass of acorns was believed to be substantially lower at HK than SC due to the greater percentage of the HK area comprised of yellow poplar dominated forest stands. No clear patterns between areas were evident among the forages analyzed for nutritional components. Poaching and harassment by free-roaming dogs were not believed to be substantially different between areas. However, winter weather severity was much greater at HK that at SC. Based on a 10-year average, snowfall is normally over 3X greater at HK relative to SC. Thus, it was concluded that the HK area has a reduced capacity to support highly dense deer herds due to a lack of quality forages in late fall through late winter and greater winter severity relative to SC. / M.S.

Studies on density related indices of white-tailed deer were conducted on the Conservation Research Center (CRC) in Warren County, Virginia from June 1985 to April 1986. Food habits and bark-stripping by deer were also evaluated. Whole body weights, stored fat status, abomasal parasite counts, and blood indices from five deer collected in September on the CRC were compared to deer collected from two reference areas in Southwest Virginia. Abomasal parasite count values for the three areas were recorded as 2568, 1292, and 292. No consistent effects of deer density on physical and physiological indices were observed. Rumen contents from the five deer collected on the CRC were used to determine food habits. The fall diet consisted of green herbage and foliage of woody plants (70% of the total volume) and fruits (30%) such as acorns, apples, and black cherry. No consistent effect of deer density on forage use in meadows was observed on the CRC. Meadow utilization decreased as the growing season progressed. Meadows were utilized more at the edge than 200 m from the edge (P = 0.06). No significant difference (P > 0.05) was found in percentage of dogwood twigs browsed during winter among areas with different deer densities. Fecal crude protein values were higher during summer than winter (P < 0. 0001) but there also was an area-season interaction ( P < 0. 01). Acid detergent fiber values were significantly different areawise (P < 0.01), seasonwise, and areas-season interactionwise (P = 0.0001). Deer density was positively related to winter ADF values. Bark-stripping occurred on slippery elm trees during the winter in a high deer density area. No significant association was found between stripping of slippery elms and age, dbh, and height classes. Protein (P < 0.001) and starch (P < 0.01) contents of the bark were significantly higher in slippery elms than in any other tree species. / M.S.

Pollinator-friendly wildflower and native grass plantings are increasingly incentivized by state and federal agencies to improve ecosystem services provided by pollinating insects on farmland. However, the potential ecosystem service benefits, or even disservices, of pollinator-friendly plantings relative to wildlife, such as resident, migratory, and nesting birds (e.g., wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)), resident and migratory bats, and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are of interest to both landowners and conservation managers. First, we studied bird species diversity, presence, density, and nesting on farms planted with and without pollinator-friendly plantings to evaluate the potential value of these plantings to bird-related values, such as cultural, recreational, and pest-regulating ecosystem services. Second, we quantified bat relative activity through recorded echolocation calls and explored how relative nightly activity varied across common cover types on a farm, by survey year, and by maternity (May-August) versus non-maternity season (September-April). Third, we determined whether white-tailed deer and wild turkey camera trap success and occupancy differed between farms with and without pollinator-friendly farmscaped plots, evaluated along with their relationships to percent cover of natural, developed, crop, and water habitats within 1 km of surveyed farms. We conducted bird point counts across 20 farms on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Maryland and the city of Virginia Beach, VA during the Spring and Fall of 2017 and 2018. We searched for bird nests in pollinator-friendly plots during the summers of 2017 and 2018. There were no differences in alpha diversity, defined as the number of species per farm per survey period, between control and pollinator farms in either Spring or Fall. We did find differences in species evenness on farms during Spring surveys, as measured by Simpson's index, with pollinator farms having a higher mean Simpson's index. When examining factors relating to presence/absence of our 15 modeled bird species out of 110 species detected on farms, landscape-level cover types were influential in 14 species and presence of pollinator plots was influential for 5 species. After stratification of density estimates by control and pollinator farm study sites, we found that during Spring surveys, the blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) and Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) had lower density on pollinator farms. In the Fall, the blue grosbeak (Passerina caerulea) had higher density on pollinator farms. We found nesting in the pollinator-friendly plots by red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus; n=7). These nests were placed in locations within the pollinator plots with higher forb coverage than random points in the same plots without nests. We estimated the presence and relative activity of bats in 4 cover types, including forest trail, a forested pond edge, a crop field on forest edge, and a farmscaped wildflower plot, on the Eastern Shore Agricultural Research Extension Center in Painter, Virginia, from April 2017- November 2019 using acoustic detectors. Of total detections, 20.11% were identified as big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), 17.97% evening bat (Nycticeius humeralis), 15.35% silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), 7.11% eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis), 3.66% hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus), 3.1% little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), and 1.38% tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). Relative activity measured by calls per night varied by cover type, with relative activity highest for all 7 species in the crop field-forest edge and water-forest edge cover types as compared to pollinator plot and forest trail cover types during the maternity season (May-August). All 7 bat species were recorded in the pollinator plot cover type; of the 8,877 calls in pollinator plots, 26.07% were silver-haired bat, 25.21% eastern red bats, 23.78% evening bat, 9.32% hoary bats, 9.11% little brown bat, 5.42% big brown bat, and 1.09% tricolored bat. We used camera trap surveys to measure white-tailed deer and wild turkey occupancy across 20 farms on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and in the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia during the Spring and Fall of 2017 and 2018. Of all wild species photographed, white-tailed deer were most abundant (TS, # captures/100 nights) each survey season, however this varied season to season (Spring 2017 = 98.44 TS, Fall 2017 = 106.01 TS, Spring 2018 = 80.52 TS, Fall 2018 = 99.71 TS). Wild turkey total survey camera trap success was low compared to deer and other wildlife (4.51 TS), and also varied seasonally (Spring 2017 = 1.73 TS, Fall 2017 = 1.50 TS, Spring 2018 = 7.63 TS, Fall 2018 = 5.95 TS). White-tailed deer were detected at all survey locations at least once, and the occupancy of deer decreased as the percentage of developed land within 1km of a farm increased in each survey season. The factors relating to wild turkey occupancy varied by season. In Spring 2017, wild turkey occupancy increased as the percent of natural cover within 1 km of a farm increased. In Spring 2018, wild turkey occupancy decreased as the percent of developed land within 1 km increased. However, landscape variables did not influence wild turkey occupancy in the Fall seasons; rather in Fall 2018 we found that wild turkey occupancy decreased as camera trap success of farm machinery being used increased. Overall, wild turkey had a fairly low presence on all survey sites with an occupancy ranging from 0.18-0.53%, and no clear relationship to explain the change in survey season to season or year to year. Based on these results, pollinator plot presence or absence was not found to influence detection or occupancy of either of these target game species. Rather, other factors, mainly landscape-scale features, were found to have the largest influence on both species' occupancy and presence. Our study is one of just a few in North America to demonstrate some potential benefits of pollinator-friendly plantings to multiple different wildlife species with cultural, recreational, and insect-regulating ecosystem service benefits to landowners. Generally, birds, bats, and our focal game species' presence relied on surrounding landscape variables and forest-edge configurations more than the presence of pollinator friendly plantings. This is probably in part due to the small size of our pollinator plots. We recommend that future work explore potentially increasing the size of pollinator plot plantings or placing pollinator plantings in locations on the landscape with the most surrounding natural area, and least development, to maximize the benefits of this resource to diverse wildlife species with home ranges that are often larger than any one farm. / Master of Science / Pollinator-friendly wildflower and native grass plantings are increasingly used by state and federal agencies to improve benefits from biodiversity such as increases in crop pollinating insects, but the potential benefits of such plantings for vertebrate wildlife are not well studied. We evaluated potential ecosystem services, or even disservices, of pollinator-friendly plantings related to vertebrate wildlife, such as resident, migratory, and nesting birds (e.g., wild turkey), resident and migratory bats, and white-tailed deer. Bird point counts were conducted across 20 farms on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Maryland and the city of Virginia Beach, VA during the Spring and Fall of 2017 and 2018, and we searched for bird nests in pollinator-friendly plots during the summers of 2017 and 2018. Over the entire project, we saw 110 different species; 96 were identified as insectivorous, indicating the potential for insect regulating services from birds. The total number of bird species observed on farms with pollinator plots were higher than farms without (100 > 90). After division of density estimates between control and pollinator farm study sites, we found that during Spring surveys, the Carolina wren had lower density on pollinator farms while in the Fall the blue grosbeak had higher density on pollinator farms. We found 7 nests of red-winged blackbirds (n=7) in the pollinator-friendly plots and birds preferred nesting in locations within the pollinator plots with more dense flowering plants without woody stem coverage than random points without nests in the same plots. We examined the presence and relative activity of bats in 4 cover types, including forest trail, a forested pond edge, a crop field on forest edge, and a farmscaped wildflower plot on one of our farm sites at the Eastern Shore Agricultural Research Extension Center in Painter, Virginia, from April 2017- November 2019 using acoustic detectors that record bat echolocation. All 7 bat species were recorded in the pollinator plot cover type and of total farm detections, 20.11% were identified as big brown bat, 17.97% evening bat, 15.35% silver-haired bat, 7.11% eastern red bats, 3.66% hoary bats, 3.1% little brown bat, and 1.38% tricolored bat. As expected, relative activity varied by cover type, with relative activity highest for all 7 species in the crop field-forest edge and water-forest edge cover types as compared to pollinator plot and forest trail cover types during the maternity season (May-August). We used camera trap surveys to measure white-tailed deer and wild turkey camera trap success and occupancy across 20 farms on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and in the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia during the Spring and Fall of 2017 and 2018. Of all wild species photographed, white-tailed deer had the highest observations. Wild turkey detections were low compared to deer and other wildlife. White-tailed deer and wild turkey presence were not influenced by the presence of pollinator plots, but rather by other factors, mainly landscape features within 1 km. Our study is one of the first in North America to demonstrate some potential benefits of pollinator-friendly plantings to multiple different wildlife with cultural, recreational, and insect-regulating ecosystem service benefits to landowners. Generally, birds, bats, and our focal game specie's presence relied on surrounding landscape variables and forest-edge configurations than the presence of pollinator friendly plantings. This is probably in part due to the small size of our pollinator plots. We recommend that future work explore potentially increasing the size of pollinator plot plantings or placing pollinator plantings in locations on the landscape with the most surrounding natural area, and least development, to maximize the benefits of this resource to diverse wildlife species with home ranges that are often larger than any one farm.

This study was a comprehensive evaluation of population reconstruction techniques. Population reconstruction techniques are population estimation methods that calculate a minimum population size based on age-specific harvest data (Downing 1980, Roseberry and Woolf 1991). Population reconstruction techniques share the following characteristics: 1) utilization of catch-at-age data and 2) backward addition of cohorts to estimate a minimum population size. I developed a questionnaire to survey the biologists participating in this survey to determine the most common reconstruction technique used to estimate population sizes of exploited white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and black bear (Ursus americanus). Downing reconstruction (Downing 1980) was the most commonly used reconstruction technique among biologists participating in this study. Based on a comprehensive literature review and discussions with state biologists, I decided to evaluate virtual reconstruction (Roseberry and Woolf 1991) and develop a new reconstruction technique: Reverse Order reconstruction. I developed a quantitative population model in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 to evaluate the ability of the 3 reconstruction techniques to estimate population sizes given a variety of conditions. I evaluated the effects of stochasticity on reconstruction population estimates by incorporating different levels of environmental stochasticity (i.e. process error) and measurement error in the generated or "known" population. I also evaluated the effects of collapsing age classes and aging biases on population estimates. In all conditions, Downing and virtual reconstruction were underestimates of the actual population size. Reverse Order reconstruction more closely estimated the actual population size, but is also more data-intensive than the other 2 methods. Measurement error introduces more uncertainty in the reconstructed population estimates than does process error. The population simulation model proved that Downing and virtual reconstruction are consistently underestimates and the percent underestimation is due to lack of inclusion of a natural mortality rates in population estimation. I used the results of the questionnaire to characterize the harvest datasets of the states participating in this study. From these results, I chose two harvest datasets to further analyze: a white-tailed deer harvest dataset from North Carolina and a black bear harvest dataset from Pennsylvania. I analyzed these datasets with Downing and virtual reconstruction. I also applied the quantitative population model to these datasets to evaluate the effect of increasing levels of measurement error on the variance of the population estimates. I found that Downing and virtual reconstruction estimated the population sizes very closely to one another, within 5%, for both datasets, and the reconstructed estimates closely tracked the actual harvest numbers. I also found that increasing levels of measurement error increased the variance associated with reconstructed population estimates and may decrease the ability of these techniques to accurately capture population trends. / Master of Science