Call number: LD2668 .T4 1959 R68

Master of Science / Division of Biology / David A. Haukos / The ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) is a popular and economically important upland gamebird in Kansas. Population declines have stakeholders seeking methods to manage populations on agricultural lands. Cover crops planted during the breeding period may provide important resources pheasants require for survival and successful reproduction. I evaluated three cover crop mixes; a custom mix, commercial mix, a wildlife mix, and a chemical fallow control in three counties in western Kansas, during 2017 and 2018 to determine their potential as a management practice for increasing pheasant habitat. I tested the relative effects of spring cover crops on female pheasant survival, nest survival, nest-site selection, and mesocarnivore occupancy. Females pheasants (73) were captured via nightlighting during February – April and fitted with 15-g very-high-frequency radio collars and monitored by telemetry. I placed 58 camera traps on field edges and within cover crop treatments from April to September. Vegetation data were collected at nests and random points to assess nest-site selection and weekly random vegetation points were sampled within treatments. I used known fate and nest survival models in the package RMark interface in R to investigate adult and nest survival (R Core Team 2018). Adult breeding season survival was 0.57 (SE < 0.0001, CI = 0.5739 – 0.5740). Percent spring cover crop positively influenced adult survival (AICc wi = 0.450). Nest survival was 0.36 (SE < 0.001, CI = 0.3614 - 0.3614). Daily nest survival followed a pattern of high survival that gradually declined over the breeding season. Resource selection functions suggest female ring-necked pheasants selected vegetation between 5-7 dm at 50% VOR for nest sites (AICc wi = 0.97). Chi-square analyses suggest females selected Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) patches for nest sites more than expected during both years (2017 χ²₄ = 26.49, P < 0.001; 2018 χ²₄ = 9.80, P = 0.04). CRP supported 57% of nests and 56% of successful nests relative to other cover types. All three of the monitored nests in cover crops were depredated. Ring-necked pheasant occupancy was greatest on edges of treatments (ψ = 0.97, SE = 0.081) and influenced by proportion of the Chick Magnet seed mix (AICc wi = 0.68). Mesocarnivore occupancy was greatest on treatment edges with a constant occupancy of 0.99 (SE = 0.47, AICc wi = 0.66). Spring cover crops provide cover and foraging resources when the majority of agricultural practices are fallow. Spring cover crops do not provide sufficient vertical cover for nesting until after peak nesting occurs, especially during cooler than average winter and spring conditions such as 2018. However, there are tangible benefits of spring cover crops to other biological periods, such as adult female survival, and brood resources if placement of cover crops is targeted near quality nest habitat. My results indicates wheat is an ecological trap for nesting due to increased predation and destruction during harvest. Providing quality nest structure will reduce females nesting in wheat. Incorporation of spring cover crops is a beneficial wildlife management tool that can increase ring-necked pheasant habitat on the landscape.

The ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) is one of the most important upland game species over much of the nation. It is also one of the most difficult to effectively manage for the increasing hunter population. The high value of agricultural lands renders habitat improvement programs by state agencies a financial impossibility except on an extremely localized basis. Therefore, the primary pheasant management tool largely remains hunting season manipulation. The federal government through various agricultural programs may have an influence upon pheasant habitat. Public Law 540 entitled "Agricultural Act of 1956," more commonly referred to as the "Soil Bank Act" (Congress, 84th, 2d Session 1956, 1957), seemed quite promising in this respect. This act provided for two programs, the Acreage Reserve and the Conservation Reserve. The first was a short term program and of negligible value for pheasants. The second was of longer duration and is the one under which remaining Soil Bank lands are included. Under the Conservation Reserve, cropland was taken out of production and a sound conservation practice established in an attempt to balance the total production and demand of surplus crops. Farmers signed contracts for periods of three to ten years. The federal government then shared the cost of establishing conservation practices and made annual payments for maintaining them during the contract periods. The Conservation Reserve program has not been extended since 1960. Consequently, all remaining contracts will have expired by the end of 1971. Relatively little Conservation Reserve land has been put into "G" practices specifically designed for wildlife. These include such things as wildlife food and cover plantings, development or restoration of shallow water areas, and construction of ponds and wildlife watering facilities. Instead, the bulk of wildlife benefits will have to be derived from the "A-2" practice, the establishment of permanent vegetative cover, since this is the one most widely employed. Any appraisal of the Conservation Reserve then is, in actuality, an evaluation of habitat provided by the "A-2" practice.

Purpose of Study. The ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus torquatus Gmelin) is well enough known to need no introduction. It is at present undoubtedly the most abundant and most important gallinaceous game bird in northern Utah. Its abundance and its occurrence in agricultural areas has stimulated much general interest. Yet, aside from two food habits studies, both conducted in Utah County, no intensive research has been made into its ecological relationships or its general life history in Utah. In order to formulate sound management plans for the pheasant in Utah, the Utah Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit has felt the need for basic information regarding its mortality phases, movements, food habits, habitat preferences, interspecific relationships, and its effect on cultivated crops and the effect of farm practices upon its numbers and distributions.

These 4 chapters represent manuscripts formatted for submission to journals based on an experiment conducted on Ring-necked Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus). Calcium limits the distribution of this species, which produces 7-15 eggs per clutch. They may renest up to 5 times per breeding season on a diet low in calcium. The first chapter examines egg production in laying hens on 7 different diets from 0.19-4.47% calcium in the absence of calcium loading. Calcium-loaded pheasants store calcium in medullary bone before an experiment and can draw on this surplus during egg production, possibly skewing experimental results. We measured egg production, egg characteristics, and hen femur ash fraction in a 2-month experiment. Hens in the middle 5 dietary calcium (1.07-3.08%) groups statistically produced the same number of eggs, which differed from reported studies where hens were calcium-loaded. Ash fraction values indicated that hens expended medullary bone reserves to produce eggs when dietary input was low. In Chapter 2, we examined bone properties in the above femurs to determine if pheasant hens on low calcium diets expended enough medullary bone stores to compromise skeletal integrity. We applied a 3-point bending test to find femur breaking strength and examined structural bone properties. Calcium and breaking strength were linearly associated. Femurs of hens given lower calcium diets were easier to break. Structural properties of cortical bone were not correlated with dietary calcium. Pheasants on low calcium, comparable to wild conditions, seemed to sacrifice skeletal integrity to maintain high egg production, although not enough to damage cortical bone. In Chapter 3 we examined 437 eggs laid to determine if egg color correlated with dietary calcium, egg mass, volume or shell thickness. Yellow pigment decreased with increasing calcium. Biliverdin had a higher affinity for calcium than protoporphyrin. In Chapter 4, we examined male pheasants to determine if reduced surface area on one wing (clipped) induced unbalanced pectoralis muscle development and humerous density on the corresponding side after wing-whirring for 2 months. We weighed pectoralis muscles and conducted 3-point bending tests on humeri of 7 pheasant males. We found no difference in pectoralis muscles mass, humeri breaking strength or ash fraction between clipped and unclipped wings. Wing-whirring may only put a negligible strain on male Ring-necked Pheasant pectoralis muscles and humeri.

A declining population of ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) was studied at Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge (TLNWR) from the summer of 1990 through the spring of 1993. Pheasant densities/50 ha at TLNWR in 1989, 1991, and 1992 were considerably lower (16.86, 8.49, and 6.81) than the >62 density seen in the mid-1950s. Mean body weight of hen pheasants at TLNWR was significantly lower than hens at nearby Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge (LKNWR) which was not intensively farmed. Mean tarsal lengths of hens at TLNWR were also significantly shorter than hens at LKNWR, suggesting reduced skeletal growth and potential nutritional problems. The lack of adequate cover was responsible for poor early nest success at TLNWR. Later in the season, spring planted crops provided adequate cover to conceal nesting hens; however, only 0.21 young in 1991 and 0.02 young in 1992 were produced per radio-equipped hen. These rates are extremely low compared to rates required to maintain a stable population. Most adult mortality occurred during the spring and early summer months at TLNWR before crops provided adequate cover, and long before pesticide applications. The main predator of the pheasants was the golden eagle (Aquila chrvsaetos). Of special concern at TLNWR was pheasant and other wildlife exposure to anticholinesterase (antiChE) insecticides used on agricultural croplands at the refuge. Direct toxicity of antiChE compounds (in this case methamidophos) killed 2 young pheasants, but no adult radio-equipped hens died as a direct result of insecticide intoxication. This finding was of particular interest because 15% of the adult pheasants collected in and around potato fields had 55% brain ChE inhibition. The extent of the effects of insecticide exposure on the survivorship of pheasant young was uncertain as they were not radio-equipped. The overriding factor impacting the pheasant population at TLNWR and to a lesser extent LKNWR was poor habitat, especially in the spring when most mortality occurred. The poor habitat also resulted in extremely low recruitment (up to 1 September). Nearly all adult mortality and most of the low recruitment occurred before the insecticide spray season. The population was nearly extirpated during the severe winter of 1992-93. / Graduation date: 1995