Association of Ring-Necked Pheasant, Gray Partridge, and Meadowlark Abundance to Conservation Reserve Program Grasslands

Abstract

Abstract Wildlife managers and farm program administrators need information on how much habitat grassland birds need to support or expand their populations. We quantified the relationships between the amount of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) habitat in 15 agricultural landscapes and relative abundance of ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus), gray partridge (Perdix perdix), and meadowlarks (Sturnella spp.) in south-central Minnesota, USA, over a 10-year CRP enrollment cycle. For each 10% increase of grass in the landscape, pheasant survey counts increased by an average of 12.4 birds per route in spring and by 32.9 birds per route in summer. Pheasant indices also varied by year, and the magnitude of year effects were equivalent to a change in grass abundance of 26–36%. Regardless of the amount of grass habitat available, partridge indices in our study declined dramatically from a peak in 1990 to a low in 1994–1995. Meadowlark indices increased by an average of 11.7 birds per route in summer for e...