Effects of understory vegetation management on brood habitat for northern bobwhites

Published source details Burke J.D., Chamberlain M.J. & Geaghan J.P. (2008) Effects of understory vegetation management on brood habitat for northern bobwhites. Journal of Wildlife Management, 72, 1361-1368.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Apply herbicide to mid- and understorey vegetation Action Link
	Manually control or remove midstorey and ground-level vegetation (including mowing, chaining, cutting etc) in forests Action Link
	Use prescribed burning on pine forests Action Link

Apply herbicide to mid- and understorey vegetation

A controlled study within a loblolly pine Pinus taeda plantation in Louisiana, USA, in 2003-2005 (Burke et al. 2006) found that northern bobwhite Colinus virginianus chicks were significantly more likely to successfully capture arthropods in areas of forest that were both burned and treated with imazapyr herbicide, compared to areas that were burned, mown or control areas. Arthropod abundance (a measure of brood habitat quality) was also highest in burned and herbicide-treated areas.
Manually control or remove midstorey and ground-level vegetation (including mowing, chaining, cutting etc) in forests

A controlled study within a loblolly pine plantation in Louisiana, USA, in 2003-2005 (Burke et al. 2008) found that northern bobwhite Colinus virginianus chicks were significantly more likely to successfully capture arthropods in areas of forest that were mown, compared to areas that were burned. However, success was significantly lower than in areas that were both burned and treated with imazapyr herbicide. There was only a very small difference between mown and control areas.
Use prescribed burning on pine forests

A controlled study within a loblolly pine plantation in Louisiana, USA, in 2003-2005 (Burke et al. 2008) found that northern bobwhite chicks were 50% less likely to successfully capture arthropods in burned areas of forest than in mown areas, areas burned and treated with imazapyr herbicide, or control areas.