Prioritizing habitats that provide the best options for the persistence of sensitive species in human‐modified landscapes is a critical concern for conservation. Linking occurrence and fitness parameters across multiple spatial scales provides an approach to address habitat prioritization for species of concern in disturbed habitats. To demonstrate the usefulness of this approach, we generated resource selection and survival risk models as a framework to quantify habitat value for wintering female greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) inhabiting a 6,093‐km2 study area in northwest Colorado and south‐central Wyoming, USA, being developed for oil and natural gas reserves. Our approach allowed us to evaluate the relative influence of anthropogenic development and environmental attributes characterizing a large landscape on habitat selection and habitat‐specific survival in winter for female sage‐grouse. When combined, these models provided a spatial representation of habitat quality to inform management and conservation of critical wintering habitats. We used 537 locations from 105 radio‐marked female grouse obtained from 18 fixed‐wing flights across winters 2007–2008, 2008–2009, and 2009–2010. Wintering sage‐grouse selected areas with higher wetness potential (0.75‐km2 scale), intermediate (quadratic form) total shrub cover (18.83‐km2 scale), higher variability in shrub height (18.83‐km2 scale), and less heterogeneity in Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata wyomingensis; 4.71‐km2 scale) cover and total shrub cover (18.83‐km2 scale). Anthropogenic surface disturbance (0.75‐km2 scale) was negatively associated with occurrence. Winter survival for female grouse was positively correlated with heterogeneity in big sagebrush cover at the 0.75‐km2 scale, but negatively correlated with heterogeneity in total shrub cover at the 18.83‐km2 scale. We did not detect an association between anthropogenic variables and female winter survival. However, displacement of sage‐grouse in the energy extraction area may have masked our ability to identify anthropogenic variables potentially influencing survival. Our winter habitat quality map indicated highly effective winter habitat (high occurrence‐low survival risk) was limited, only representing 17.1% of our study area. Consequently, displacement from these limited, high‐quality winter habitats could have profound consequences to population persistence.

While the tendency to return to previously visited locations—termed ‘site fidelity’—is common in animals, the cause of this behaviour is not well understood. One hypothesis is that site fidelity is shaped by an animal's environment, such that animals living in landscapes with predictable resources have stronger site fidelity. Site fidelity may also be conditional on the success of animals’ recent visits to that location, and it may become stronger with age as the animal accumulates experience in their landscape. Finally, differences between species, such as the way memory shapes site attractiveness, may interact with environmental drivers to modulate the strength of site fidelity. We compared inter‐year site fidelity in 669 individuals across eight ungulate species fitted with GPS collars and occupying a range of environmental conditions in North America and Africa. We used a distance‐based index of site fidelity and tested hypothesized drivers of site fidelity using linear mixed effects models, while accounting for variation in annual range size. Mule deer Odocoileus hemionus and moose Alces alces exhibited relatively strong site fidelity, while wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus and barren‐ground caribou Rangifer tarandus granti had relatively weak fidelity. Site fidelity was strongest in predictable landscapes where vegetative greening occurred at regular intervals over time (i.e. high temporal contingency). Species differed in their response to spatial heterogeneity in greenness (i.e. spatial constancy). Site fidelity varied seasonally in some species, but remained constant over time in others. Elk employed a ‘win‐stay, lose‐switch’ strategy, in which successful resource tracking in the springtime resulted in strong site fidelity the following spring. Site fidelity did not vary with age in any species tested. Our results provide support for the environmental hypothesis, particularly that regularity in vegetative phenology shapes the strength of site fidelity at the inter‐annual scale. Large unexplained differences in site fidelity suggest that other factors, possibly species‐specific differences in attraction to known sites, contribute to variation in the expression of this behaviour. Understanding drivers of variation in site fidelity across groups of organisms living in different environments provides important behavioural context for predicting how animals will respond to environmental change.

The effectiveness of pelvic fin ray microchemistry of muskellunge Esox masquinongy Mitchill to identify stocked individuals along with the potential to identify naturally reproduced fish were evaluated. Fish and water samples were obtained from one hatchery and seven lakes with natural differences in water Sr:Ca to determine whether locationspecific environmental signatures were recorded in sectioned muskellunge pelvic fin rays, including fish of known environmental history. Water and fin ray Sr:Ca were strongly correlated. Six lakes in Illinois possessed Sr:Ca signatures that were distinct from the hatchery where muskellunge were raised, resulting in pronounced shifts in Sr:Ca across sectioned fin rays of stocked fish. Hatchery and lake-specific Sr:Ca signatures were stable across years. Sixteen of 19 individual fish known to have been stocked based on PIT tags implanted at stocking were correctly identified as hatchery-origin fish using fin ray core Sr:Ca. Results also indicated that the hatchery Sr:Ca signal can be retained for at least seven years in fin rays of stocked fish. Fin ray microchemistry is a non-lethal approach for determining environmental history of muskellunge that could be used to assess movement patterns in lake and river systems and the degree to which muskellunge populations are supported by natural reproduction and stocking.

The effectiveness of marking age-0 lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens Rafinesque, pectoral fin rays with a stable strontium isotope was evaluated. Age-0 lake sturgeon were reared in water spiked with 0 (control), 25, 50 or 100 lg L )1 86 SrC0 3 for 10 and 24 days; fish from each treatment group were retained for up to 120 days postlabelling to assess mark retention. Enriched-isotope marks imparted to fin rays were distinct from fin ray 88 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios of control fish immediately following marking, with the 100 lg L )1 86 SrCO 3 treatments consistently yielding the highest rate of marking success (83-92%). Lower marking success (25-69%) was observed with the 25 and 50 lg L )1 86 SrCO 3 treatments. Isotopic marks in fin rays were retained for 120 days post-labelling. Immersion marking of juvenile fish pectoral fin rays with distinct strontium isotope ratios is possible and does not require sacrificing fish to check for marks. K E Y W O R D S :Acipenser fulvescens, chemical marking, enriched isotopes, LA-ICPMS, mark retention, strontium.

Context Inter- and intraspecific habitat partitioning is widespread across taxa, yet limited information is available on differences in intraspecific habitat selection by same-sex individuals among differing reproductive states. Understanding habitat selection by conspecifics of different reproductive states may help optimise conservation efforts, particularly for gallinaceous bird species such as greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), which are long-lived but have only moderate reproductive rates. Aims We predicted that habitat use differed between grouse under different reproductive states and that reproductive investment decreased survival of adults in summer. Methods We compared habitat characteristics used by brood-rearing and broodless female sage-grouse and evaluated the influence of reproductive investment and habitat use on survival of adult females. Key results We found that brood-rearing and broodless female sage-grouse partitioned habitat at micro- and macrohabitat scales. Broodless females were more likely to survive the summer. Conclusions Our findings suggest reproductive state variability in habitat selection by female sage-grouse. Broodless females were roosting and foraging in concealed habitats with intermediate visual obstruction and annual vegetation productivity, but less food forb availability compared with early and late brood-rearing females. In contrast, brood-rearing females likely selected more herbaceous understoreys to predictably maximise foraging opportunities and promote growth of their chicks, which appeared to mitigate the influence of reproductive costs on summer survival, particularly during the late brood-rearing period. Implications Survival of adult females is critical for population persistence of sage-grouse and other long-lived Galliformes, yet conservation efforts generally focus on habitats used during nesting and brood-rearing. Our results suggest that habitat partitioning is a potential risk-aversion strategy where individuals across different reproductive states likely select habitats to maximise their survival. Conservation efforts should focus on conserving habitats used by both brood-rearing and broodless sage-grouse to ensure population persistence.