Changes in land use and land cover throughout the eastern half of North America have caused substantial declines in populations of birds that rely on grassland and shrubland vegetation types, including socially and economically important game birds such as the Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; hereafter bobwhites). As much attention is focused on habitat management and restoration for bobwhites, they may act as an umbrella species for other bird species with similar habitat requirements. We quantified the relationship of bobwhites to the overall bird community and evaluated the potential for bobwhites to act as an umbrella species for grassland and shrubland birds. We monitored bobwhite presence and bird community composition within 31 sample units on selected private lands in the south-central United States from 2009 to 2011. Bobwhites were strongly associated with other grassland and shrubland birds and were a significant positive predictor for 9 species. Seven of these, including Bell's Vireo (Vireo bellii), Dicksissel (Spiza americana), and Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), are listed as species of conservation concern. Species richness and occupancy probability of grassland and shrubland birds were higher relative to the overall bird community in sample units occupied by bobwhites. Our results show that bobwhites can act as an umbrella species for grassland and shrubland birds, although the specific species in any given situation will depend on region and management objectives. These results suggest that efficiency in conservation funding can be increased by using public interest in popular game species to leverage resources to meet multiple conservation objectives.

The purpose of this data was to determine the capacity of Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) to act as an umbrella species for other birds that rely on grassland and shrubland vegetation types. The database consists of occupancy probabilities within sample units for 33 bird species from point counts done in eastern and central Oklahoma in 2009-2011. Sample units are 400-meter-radius circles (~52 ha). The four letter codes are American Ornithologists Union species codes. Location is accurate to the township centroid (~ 93.2 square km; 36 square mi), meaning that samples with the same location occurred in the same township.

Supplement to: Crosby, Andrew D; Elmore R, Dwayne; Leslie Jr., David M; Will, Rodney E (2015): Looking beyond rare species as umbrella species: Northern Bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) and conservation of grassland and shrubland birds. Biological Conservation, 186, 233-240