Importance of regional variation in conservation planning: a rangewide example of the Greater Sage‐Grouse

Doherty, Kevin E.; Evans, Jeffrey S.; Coates, Peter S.; Juliusson, Lara M.; Fedy, Bradley C.

doi:10.1002/ecs2.1462

Cited by 84 publications

(162 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…Winter resource selection generally occurred irrespective of flock size, but RSFs were still useful in identifying potential WCAs because they occurred in areas that we predicted to have high relative probability of selection. Methods that integrate breeding population indices and resource selection have been successfully used to identify priority areas for sage‐grouse conservation (Coates et al , Doherty et al ). These methods largely relied on spatial relationships between female habitat use during nesting and distance to known occupied leks (Holloran and Anderson , Coates et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Approaches to delineate greater sage‐grouse winter concentration areas

2019

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The usefulness of protected areas as regulatory mechanisms to conserve wildlife populations relies on their ability to contain all seasonal habitats necessary for species persistence. Efficient conservation practices require understanding behavior and habitat needs of individual species and populations rather than simply relying on reserves of approximate size and configuration. Priority Areas of Conservation (PACs) have been delineated as protected areas based on known breeding habitat for greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage‐grouse) throughout their range. These PACs include Core Areas designated in the Wyoming Sage‐grouse Executive Order; however, this order also indicated the need to identify winter concentration areas (WCAs; flocks ≥50 individuals) based on habitat features using validated resource selection functions (RSFs). We used aerial infrared videography to identify locations of wintering sage‐grouse in south‐central and southwest Wyoming, USA, to evaluate winter sage‐grouse habitat selection with individual‐based RSFs, RSFs based on WCAs, and relative flock size. We located 4,859 individuals comprising 132 flocks across our study area. Flocks occurred in Core Areas more than expected, but a biologically meaningful number of sage‐grouse flocks were located outside of Core Areas. Individual‐based RSFs contained useful predictors that were consistent with previous sage‐grouse winter habitat selection studies. Flock size and WCA models produced similar predictions to individual‐based RSF models. Individual‐based and WCA‐based RSF model predictions had a high degree of similarity, suggesting that identifying important winter habitats with individual‐based RSF modeling is useful for locating potential WCAs when information on flock sizes is not available. Our results and survey technique provide a potential framework for identifying sage‐grouse WCAs with implications for improving PAC protection of all seasonal habitats for sage‐grouse conservation. © 2019 The Wildlife Society.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Approaches to delineate greater sage‐grouse winter concentration areas

2019

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“…The anthropogenic influence index can also be used to identify areas where targeted management actions, particularly those that reduce access to resource subsidies, could be most effective. To explore this concept, we provide an applied example using existing information about spatial variation in sage‐grouse habitat suitability and breeding populations within our study area (sage‐grouse concentration areas; Coates, Ricca, et al., ; Doherty et al., ). First, we reclassified predicted raven occurrence into four classes (low to high probability).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broad‐scale occurrence of a subsidized avian predator: Reducing impacts of ravens on sage‐grouse and other sensitive prey

O’Neil

Coates

Brussee

et al. 2018

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Expanding human enterprise across remote environments impacts numerous wildlife species. Anthropogenic resources provide subsidies for generalist predators that can lead to cascading effects on prey species at lower trophic levels. A fundamental challenge for applied ecologists is to disentangle natural and anthropogenic influences on species occurrence, and subsequently develop spatially explicit models to help inform management and conservation decisions. Using Bayesian hierarchical occupancy models, we mapped the broad‐scale occurrence of common ravens Corvus corax as a function of natural and anthropogenic landscape covariates using >15,000 point count surveys performed during 2007–2016 within the Great Basin region, USA. Raven abundance and distribution is substantially increasing across the American west due to unintended anthropogenic resource subsidies. Importantly, ravens prey on eggs and chicks of numerous species including greater sage‐grouse Centrocercus urophasianus, an indicator species whose decline is at the centre of national conservation strategies and land‐use policies. Anthropogenic factors that contributed to greater raven occurrence were: increased road density, presence of transmission lines, agricultural activity, and presence of roadside rest areas. Natural landscape characteristics included lower elevations with greener vegetation (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), greater stream and habitat edge densities, and lower percentages of big sagebrush Artemisia tridentata spp. Interactions between anthropogenic sources of nesting substrate and food subsidies suggested that raven occurrence increased multiplicatively when these resource subsidies co‐occurred. Overall, the average probability of raven occurrence estimated within sagebrush ecosystems of the study area was c. 0.83. Synthesis and applications. We demonstrate how anthropogenic factors can be disentangled from natural effects when making spatially explicit predictions of subsidized predators occurring across expansive landscapes. This approach can guide management decisions where subsidized predators overlap sensitive prey habitats. For example, we identify areas where elevated raven occurrence coincides with breeding sage‐grouse concentration areas and appears to be largely driven by anthropogenic factors. Management applications could focus on reducing raven access to anthropogenic subsidies in these areas, while prioritizing habitat improvements for sage‐grouse elsewhere. Our approach is applicable to other species where widespread survey data are available.

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“…We recommend future research combine our results with other sources of information, particularly those related to bird abundance and stressors affecting abundance, to help define critical habitat. The integration of SDMs and spatially explicit estimates of abundance can be a valuable tool for the identification of priority habitats for species of conservation concern (Thogmartin et al 2014, Doherty et al 2016. Additionally, these surfaces could help inform priority areas for reserve design when combined with other relevant data (Moilanen et al 2005).…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of priority grassland bird habitats in the Prairie Pothole Region of Canada

Fedy¹,

Devries²,

Howerter³

et al. 2018

ACE

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ABSTRACT. Grassland ecosystems and the species that rely on them are one of the most urgent habitat conservation concerns in North America. Fundamental to any landscape conservation efforts is the identification of priority habitats to help target management efforts. Many avian species associated with prairie ecosystems have experienced population declines along with continued loss of prairie habitats. Additionally, given the long history of research in avian systems and the close grassland associations of some species, birds are excellent candidate taxa for the identification of priority habitats and can provide an informed starting point for multispecies assessments. We used data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (1997Survey ( -2014 to develop species distribution models for 15 grassland bird species across the Prairie Pothole Region of Canada. Model performance varied widely across species. Ten species demonstrated good model performance (average Boyce Index > 0.64 across 5-fold cross validation). We used these 10 species to assess the influence of habitat covariates on the relative probability of occurrence, to compare the spatial scales of selection, and to generate multispecies habitat priority maps. Of the nine habitat covariates considered, most species predictably demonstrated positive associations with grassland habitats and avoidance of areas of high tree and shrub cover. Two covariates representing wetland abundance were also frequently included in the top models. The area covered by wetlands (w.area) was present in the top model for 5 of 10 species with a consistently estimated negative coefficient. However, a covariate, which represented the number of wetland basins (w.basins), was present in the top model for 8 of 10 species with an estimated positive coefficient for all but 1 species, representing a preference for more heterogeneous wetland landscapes. The larger spatial scales we considered tended to have greater explanatory power than smaller spatial scales and were thus more prevalent in the top models. The multispecies priority habitat maps that we produced can be used for future assessments of potential habitat management actions. Our work provides a critical foundation for the incorporation of grassland bird conservation goals into on-going landscape-planning initiatives in the Prairie Pothole Region of Canada. Répartition de milieux prioritaires pour la conservation d'oiseaux de prairie dans la région des cuvettes des Prairies au CanadaRÉSUMÉ. Les écosystèmes de prairie et les espèces qui en dépendent représentent une des préoccupations de conservation d'habitat les plus importantes en Amérique du Nord. Au moment d'établir les activités d'aménagement, la détermination des milieux prioritaires est fondamentale à tout effort de conservation de paysages. De nombreuses espèces aviaires associées aux écosystèmes de prairie ont subi des baisses de population et des pertes continuelles d'habitat. De plus, étant donné la longue tradition de recherche en ornithologie et l'association étr...

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Importance of regional variation in conservation planning: a rangewide example of the Greater Sage‐Grouse

Cited by 84 publications

References 89 publications

Approaches to delineate greater sage‐grouse winter concentration areas

Approaches to delineate greater sage‐grouse winter concentration areas

Broad‐scale occurrence of a subsidized avian predator: Reducing impacts of ravens on sage‐grouse and other sensitive prey

Distribution of priority grassland bird habitats in the Prairie Pothole Region of Canada

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