Lek habitat suitability for the sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus jamesi) on the Northern Great Plains

Abstract

Grassland birds in North America face many problems as a result of habitat loss and fragmentation; understanding their habitat requirements is critical for their conservation and management. The sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) can be found throughout North American grasslands and is a species of economic and cultural importance, but it has experienced population declines over the last few decades. A large part of sharp-tailed grouse life history is focused on and around lekking grounds, which makes leks an essential feature for sharp-tailed grouse management. We used information from 596 leks and landcover predictors within 1-km and 5-km squares to perform Habitat Suitability Index modeling for sharp-tailed grouse on the Northern Great Plains in Saskatchewan, Canada. The proportion of grasslands at the 5-km scale and the 1-km scale were the two most important factors affecting lek occurrence (permutation importance = 34.8% and 26.9%, respectively). In every case, the 5-km scale predictors were ranked as having a more significant influence on lek occurrence than the 1-km scale. Other factors of importance included topographic roughness (9.7% permutation importance), and the proportion of human disturbance at the 5-km scale (5% permutation importance). Our study highlights the importance of large patches of grassland to support the occurrence of sharp-tailed grouse leks, and that a diverse set of habitat features are needed for sharp-tailed grouse management.