A Philosophy of Habitat Management for Northern Bobwhites

Abstract

Northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) have received considerable research attention since the 1920s. I evaluated published results for patterns that might be meaningful in developing a general philoso- phy of habitat management for this species. Bobwhite populations show similar mean demographics (sur- vival, productivity) as climates, landscapes, and predator populations vary about them; this suggests some operational constancy in habitat quality wherever populations persist. Neither food abundance nor habitat type interspersion are satisfactory general predictors of population density on a management area, although interspersion provides a limiting condition (after min. interspersion requirements are met, further intersper- sion has, at best, neutral effects on density). Long-term, mean density on an area may vary in proportion to the quantity of space (amt permanent cover) that fits the physical, behavioral, and physiological adaptations of bobwhites through time. The goal of habitat management on an area should be to provide bobwhites the opportunity for unconstrained use of space through time (space-time saturation). This common sense out- look seems to have been obscured by unjustified concerns over food and interspersion and lack of a general understanding of successional affiliation. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 61(2):291-301