A. Sydney Johnson

Pocosins are peat bogs that support dense, evergreen shrub cover providing abundant, low-quality browse for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). This habitat type is subject to infrequent, intense wildfires, and in May 1986 a wildfire burned across 18,200 ha (>90%) of the Holly Shelter Game Land in eastern North Carolina. We studied the response of the deer population to the fire by comparing preand postfire data on density, harvest, physical condition, and nutrition. We also analyzed nutritional quality of browse samples from burned and unburned areas for 2 years after the fire...

Waterfowl food production, availability, and use in brackish impoundments were studied in South Carolina. Widgeongrass (Ruppia maritima), dwarf spikerush (Eleocharis parvula), and seeds of saltmarsh bulrush (Scirpus robustus) were sampled each month. Standing crop of widgeongrass vegetation declined from 241.11 kg/ ha in August to nearly none in December, due mainly to competition from filamentous algae (Cladophora spp.) Widgeongrass seed production was estimated at 6.16 kg/ ha. Although waterfowl fed intensively on widgeongrass seeds, no depletion was detected, and seeds apparently...

This report summarizes existing information on the ecology of rabies in wildlife in the southeastern United States. Patterns of involvement of various wildlife species and their significance in the ecology of rabies are discussed. Other subjects that are discussed include factors involved in epizootics, barriers to interspecific spread, and various mechanisms which may maintain the rabies virus in populations during periods between epizootics.

Nesting studies with penned quail were conducted during the summers of 1960 and 1961 in Lee County, Alabama. Approximately 30 hatches were obtained in close proximity to imported fire ant (Solenopsis .mevissima richteri Forel) mounds. These were carefully observed for any instance of annoyance or predation by the ants. Similar observations were made on four cotton rat litters. A small number of nests of various species of wildlife occurring naturally near ant colonies were observed. Observations were also made on pipping and newly hatched chicks placed about imported fire ant mounds. Data...