An integrated population model to project viability of a northern bobwhite population in Ohio [DATA]

Increased variation in interannual weather due to climate change can exert a powerful influence on the population dynamics of a species. Understanding the influence of severe weather is important for managing weather-sensitive species. While best management practices target vital rates that are affected by weather, focusing on a single vital rate may not be sufficient if other vital rates are secondarily limiting. A comprehensive modeling framework to forecast future population dynamics while incorporating weather scenarios and vital rate variation within observed ranges that can be affected by management actions are necessary. A potential approach is to combine an integrated population model (IPM) with a population viability analysis (PVA) to generate novel insights about population dynamics. We used the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), a rapidly declining gamebird sensitive to snowfall along the northern extents of the species’ range, to demonstrate the utility of a coupled IP...