Pheasants 365: A Review of Seasonal Ring-Necked Pheasant Habitat in Central North America.

Ring-necked pheasants, an economically important game species in North America, are facing population declines in agriculturally dominated areas due to the intensification of production systems. There is a significant body of research on pheasant habitat requirements, much of which aims to address declines by guiding management decisions to improve habitat conditions. Pheasants, like many species, have differing resource needs throughout the year based on their life history and seasonal changes to the landscape; however, many studies have only focused on one or two of the three key ecological seasons-breeding, brood-rearing, or overwintering. We conducted a literature review using the Web of Science database to synthesize results from studies investigating pheasant habitat in central North America in a seasonal context in order to provide a year-round perspective on pheasant habitat management. Our results show the importance of grasslands and small grains during the nesting and brood-rearing seasons, while wetlands and food plots become important during the winter months. Grassland structure is a crucial component of nesting habitat, with pheasants selecting for greater litter content and visual obstruction for nesting in 90% of studies that included those variables, while during brood-rearing, chicks had higher success in grasslands with a higher percentage of forbs interspersed with bare ground. No consistent relationship was found with woodlands during any season, positive or negative. Pheasant relationships with row crops showed mixed results during nesting and brood-rearing, as they are frequently used but not preferred. During the winter, row crops and other agricultural lands such as pasture and hay fields were negatively related to pheasant resource use, abundance, and/or survival. This review aims to guide management decisions throughout the entire year for pheasant habitat by providing a season-specific synthesis of the literature within the Great Plains and Midwestern USA.