About the Author(s)

David L. Otis has studied the population biology of mourning doves since 1992. Topics have ranged from local scale field studies of cause-specific mortality to national scale design of monitoring programs for survival and recruitment. His additional research interests concern the effects of habitat management, restoration, and anthropogenic stressors on wildlife populations. He also has maintained a long term research focus on development and evaluation of statistical methods for application in field ecology. He received his graduate training in statistics and biology at Colorado State University, and he is currently the Unit Leader of the U. S. Geological Survey Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Iowa State University.

John H. Schulz is resource scientist for the Missouri Department of Conservation, Resource Science Division. He received his B.S. (1980) and M.A. (1982) in biology from Minnesota State University (formerly Mankato State University). He started working with mourning doves in 1989, and is primarily involved with research aimed at improving regional and national mourning dove harvest management decisions. Specifically, his research efforts have involved reducing uncertainty in mourning dove age and gender classification, development and implementation of field techniques for implanting subcutaneous radio transmitters, experimental evaluation of the impacts of lead (Pb) poisoning on mourning doves, long-term evaluation of the impacts of intensive localized mourning dove harvest management, and assistance in establishment of the modern mourning dove national banding program and parts-collection survey. He has published over 38 peer-reviewed manuscripts dealing with various aspects of his research. Address: Missouri Department of Conservation, Resource Science Center, 1110 South College Avenue, Columbia, MO 65201.

David Miller received his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (2000), M.S. from Auburn University (2004), and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Iowa State University.  His current research on the reproductively ecology of Mourning Doves focuses on development of methodology for large-scale monitoring of recruitment and investigation of factors affecting growth and development of nestling doves.  His general research interests are population dynamics of birds, ecological statistical methods, avian development, and the role of phenotypic plasticity on population processes.  

Ralph E. Mirarchi has degrees in biology from Muhlenberg College (1971, B.Sc.) and in wildlife management and wildlife biology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1975, M.Sc.; 1978, Ph.D.). He is currently professor of wildlife science at Auburn University where he teaches 3 courses in wildlife science, advises undergraduate wildlife majors, and conducts research for the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station. He took the opportunity to renew a childhood love affair with pigeons by beginning research on Mourning Doves while a Ph.D. candidate. He and his graduate students have continued research on this species and other columbids ever since. Most recently, he served as editor in chief of the Journal of Wildlife Management (1992-1993) and as a coeditor, compiler, and author of Ecology and Management of the Mourning Dove (1993) which was sponsored by the Wildlife Management Institute. Address: Department of Zoology and Wildlife Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849-5414.

Thomas S. Baskett is professor emeritus in the School of Natural Resources, University of Missouri, Columbia. He received degrees in biology from Central Methodist College, Missouri (1937, A.B.) and in zoology from the University of Oklahoma (1939, M.Sc.) and Iowa State University (1942, Ph.D.). He was extension specialist in wildlife conservation and assistant professor in zoology at Iowa State University and assistant professor of wildlife management at the University of Connecticut. He led the Missouri Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit (and served as adjunct assistant, associate, and full professor in fisheries and wildlife for the University of Missouri) from 1948 to 1968 and from 1973 until his retirement in 1985. Between 1968 and 1973 he was chief of wildlife research, U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, Washington, D.C. Tom Baskett and his students pursued Mourning Dove research for more than 25 years, and their studies provided hard data for dove population management strategies. Baskett served as editor of the Journal of Wildlife Management (1965-1968) and as president of the Wildlife Society (1971). He also was senior editor/compiler and author of the recently published book Ecology and Management of the Mourning Dove (1993). Address: 112 Stephens Hall, Fisheries and Wildlife, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-0000.