Nothing to Grouse About
Fisheries and wildlife professor Dean Stauffer
accepted the Outstanding Monograph Award
on behalf of all of the authors
at the Wildlife Society’s 71st Annual
Awards Ceremony in Miami last fall.
Virginia Tech Contributors
Patrick K. Devers (Ph.D. 2005)
Dean F. Stauffer (Professor)
Gary W. Norman (M.S. 1980)
Dave E. Steffen (B.S. 1975, M.S. 1978)
Darroch M. Whitaker (Ph.D. 2003)
David A. Buehler (Ph.D. 1990)
Roy L. Kirkpatrick (Professor Emeritus)
After six years of cooperative research, the Appalachian Cooperative Grouse Research Project (ACGRP) culminated with the publication of its monograph “Ruffed Grouse Population Ecology in the Appalachian Region” in Wildlife Monographs. The Wildlife Society, the leading international organization representing professional wildlife managers and scientists, recently granted the ACGRP its prestigious award for Outstanding Publication in Wildlife Ecology and Management in the Monograph Category.
This award-winning monograph represents the collaborative effort of 20 authors, seven of whom are Virginia Tech faculty, alumni, and graduate students. Pat Devers, 2005 Ph.D. in fisheries and wildlife, was lead author of the monograph, which represents the bulk of his dissertation on ruffed grouse population dynamics.
The monograph is the product of an extensive research project involving 12 study sites in eight different states in the central and southern Appalachian region. More than 200 people were involved during the course of the study, representing five universities and a variety of state, federal, and private organizations.
The study observed over 3,000 grouse that were captured and fitted with radio transmitters and then tracked using radio telemetry. These observations helped to isolate factors related to the decline of ruffed grouse in the study area and to devise improved management methods.
Transmitters are fitted around a grouse’s neck,
with the antenna extending down its back, but
pose no risk to the bird.
The ruffed grouse is a valued game bird
that thrives in young forests.
(Photo courtesy of Harold L. Jerrell)
Virginia Tech served as the data repository for the project. “The main database was held here,” noted fisheries and wildlife sciences professor Dean Stauffer. “All of the other universities involved had full access to our data.” Stauffer served as Virginia Tech’s academic and university coordinator for the project.
A major goal of the research was to estimate reproductive and survival rates, and identify factors influencing grouse populations. The researchers found a strong correlation between hard mast production, particularly acorns, and reproduction success rates and post-hatch chick survival of ruffed grouse. “We found that in years following a very good acorn crop, chick survival was much higher than in years following a poor acorn crop,” Stauffer explained. “We felt the main reason was that when the hens eat a lot of acorns, they have a higher fat content, which provides a better early food supply and better chick condition when they hatch.”
The primary contributor to shrinking grouse populations in the Appalachian region over the last several decades has been the decline in young forests, a critical habitat for grouse. An additional factor is related to poor chick survival rate. “One notable finding was that while egg hatching success was high, chick survival was very low, with a 5-week survival rate of only 22 percent over the course of the study,” Stauffer said. Chicks are often lost to predation. Exposure to cold weather is another danger because the chicks cannot maintain their own body temperature during the first few weeks of life.
Young grouse chicks are often
subject to high mortality rates.
In addition to estimating survival and reproduction rates, the ACGRP identified cause-specific mortality rates. “A major thrust of the study was about mortality and trying to find out what was killing the ruffed grouse,” Stauffer stressed. Predation was the number one cause of mortality observed in this study.
One of the goals of the project was to determine whether hunting was detrimental to grouse populations. The ACGRP was given a unique opportunity to conduct a true experiment in order to address this question. During the last three years of the study, with the cooperation of Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky, the ACGRP was able to close the hunting season on three study sites. “At the harvest levels we observed, hunting did not have a negative effect on grouse populations,” Stauffer added.
In addition to the publication of the monograph, over 25 articles have been published from the cooperative work. With great credit to the support from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the ACGRP is also writing a book about their study, edited by Stauffer. “One of our goals was to write a book that was less technical for individuals interested in grouse ecology and management,” Stauffer observed. The group hopes to see the book published in the spring.
Pat Devers weighs a captured grouse
before attaching a transmitter
and determining the bird’s age and sex.
A grouse is released after being outfitted with a
transmitter. Transmitters are effective for 12-15 months
and can be detected up to 1½ miles away.
The transmitters used also contained
a mortality sensor that allowed
researchers to detect when a bird had died.
2/19/09