Ruffed grouse population ecology in the Appalachian Region

Abstract

The Appalachian Cooperative Grouse Research Project (ACGRP) was a multistate cooperative effort initiated in 1996 to investigate the apparent decline ofmffed gmuse (Bonnsllllmbellus) and iml)cove management through the central and southern Appalachian region (i.e., parts ()Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Kcnulcky. Vvest Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, USA). Researchers have offered several hypotheses to explain the low abundance of ruffed grouse in the region, including low availability of early-successional forests due to changes in land use. additive harvest mortality, low productivity and recruitment, and nutritional stress. As part of the ACGRP. we i1westiguted ruffed grouse population ecology. Our objectives were to estimate reproductive rates, estimate survival and cause-specific mortality rate~, examine ruffed grouse harvest in the Appalachian region is compensatory, and estimate ruffed grouse finite population growth. We trapped >3,000 ruffed gronse in autumn (Sep-N()v) and spring (Feb-Mar) from 1996 to September 2002 on 12 study nrCKeywords acorns, appalachian mountains, Bonasa umbellus, harvest, hunting, management, population ecology, reproduction, ruffed grouse, survival

Citation

Devers, Patrick K.; Stauffer, Dean F.; Norman, Gary W.; Steffen, Dave E.; Whitaker, Darroch M.; Sole, Jeffrey D.; Allen, Tom J.; Bittner, Steve L.; Buehler, David A.; Edwards, John W.; Figert, Daniel E.; Friedhoff, Scott T.; Giulliano, William W.; Harper, Craig A; Igo, William K.; Kirkpatrick, Roy L.; Seamster, Michael H.; Spiker, Harry A. Jr.; Swannson,, David A.; Tefft, Brian C. 2008. Ruffed grouse population ecology in the Appalachian Region. Wildlife Monographs, Vol. 168: 1-36