Population Ecology of Ruffed Grouse in Northeastern Iowa

Ruffed grouse brood habitat use in a mixed hardwood forest: Implications for forest management in the Appalachians

“…In Missouri, Freiling (1985) found broods near canopy gaps in mature sawtimber stands. Porath and Vohs (1972) and Stewart (1956) gave similar reports from Iowa and Virginia, respectively. In New York, Bump et al (1947:140) cited brood use of ''spot-lumbered hardwoods'', similar to today's group selection harvests.…”

“…We created a set of a-priori candidate models using combinations of microhabitat variables previously determined important to ruffed grouse broods. Variables included in models were percent total groundcover, percent vertical cover 2 m, midstory stems 11.4 cm DBH, and density of invertebrates in orders preferred by ruffed grouse chicks (Stewart, 1956;Berner and Gysel, 1969;Porath and Vohs, 1972;Godfrey, 1975;Kubisiak, 1978;Maxson, 1978;Kimmel and Samuel, 1984;Thompson et al, 1987;Scott et al, 1998;Fettinger, 2002;Haulton et al, 2003). We used biascorrected Akaike's information criterion (AIC c ) and weight of evidence (w i ) to rank and select the model(s) that most parsimoniously fit the data (Burnham and Anderson, 1998).…”

“…Requirements include ample invertebrates, a diversity of moderately dense, herbaceous groundcover and a high density of midstory shrubs and woody stems (Berner and Gysel, 1969;Porath and Vohs, 1972;Godfrey, 1975;Gullion, 1977;Kubisiak, 1978;Maxson, 1978). The diversity of forest stands exhibiting these conditions included lowland speckled alder (Alnus rugosa, Godfrey, 1975), mature alder-aspen (Populus tremuloides, P. grandidentata, Kubisiak, 1978), and various combinations of forest openings and edge habitats (Berner and Gysel, 1969;Porath and Vohs, 1972;Maxson, 1978).…”

Activity, home range, and habitat usage of female ruffed grouse during the egg-laying, incubation, and early brood periods as determined by radiotelemetry

“…Bump et al (1947), Edminster (1947) , Polderboer (1942) , Hungerford (1951Hungerford ( , 1953, Sharp (1963), Porath and Vohs (1972), King (1937) and Stewart (1956) Although the open field habitat tended to.be avoided throughout the study period, it nevertheless received its greatest usage by broods. On a number of occasions both marked and unmarked broods were flushed in an open field or along a white birch habitat edge adjacent to an open field.…”

“…Porath and Vohs (1972) reported the peak of hatching occurred during the last week of May in northeastern Iowa. Bump et al· (1947) stated that most nests in New York hatched during the last week of May and the first week of June.…”