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Annual conferences of The Wildlife Society (TWS) are important venues to advance wildlife science research through the presentation of papers and posters. However, no longitudinal analysis has been conducted of publication rates of TWS conference presentations. We classified all conference presentations from 1994 to 2006 by publication status, publication outlet, lead author affiliation, and elapsed time between presentation and publication to analyze presentation and publication trends. Of the 6,279 presentations reviewed, 1,771 were published (28.2%), primarily in the Journal of Wildlife Management (22.9%) or the Wildlife Society Bulletin (15.2%). The average time between presentation and publication was 30.1±0.6 months. Academics provided most of the presentations (52.6%), as well as publications (62.4%). We believe consideration of TWS annual conference presentation and publication metrics by TWS membership and conference organizers is warranted to ensure maximum stakeholder benefit. We discuss these implications of publication analysis and offer suggestions for increasing publication rates, if that becomes a goal of TWS. We encourage periodic investigation to quantify conference benefits and to better assess the efficacy of TWS conferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerial surveys can be used to detect and monitor lesser prairie-chicken ( Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) leks, but the need exists to understand the response of lesser prairie-chickens to survey aircraft. We conducted lek surveys in Texas and New Mexico, USA, using an R-22 Beta II helicopter and R-44 Raven II helicopter. We observed the behavior of lesser prairie-chickens at 44 leks during aerial lek surveys. We observed flush responses of 38.5% (20.2-59.4%; 95% CI) and 50.0% (26.0-74.0%) from the R-22 and R-44, respectively. We found no difference in flush response between helicopter types ( P = 0.326). We used logistic regression models to predict lesser prairie-chicken flush response to aerial surveys. We found that distance from the transect was the most important flush response predictor during helicopter surveys. When flushed, lesser prairie-chickens returned to the lek and resumed predisturbance behavior in 7.0 ± 2.6 min (mean ± 95% CI). Our results suggest aerial surveys can be conducted without disruption to the lesser prairie-chicken lek dynamic. © 2011 The Wildlife Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]