scholarly journals The importance of seasonal resource selection when managing a threatened species: targeting conservation actions within critical habitat designations for the Gunnison sage-grouse

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 407 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. B. Rice ◽  
A. D. Apa ◽  
L. A. Wiechman
Keyword(s):  
Resource Selection ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Sage Grouse ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Critical Habitat ◽  
Selection Models ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
The Us ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
Priority Habitat

Context The ability to identify priority habitat is critical for species of conservation concern. The designation of critical habitat under the US Endangered Species Act 1973 identifies areas occupied by the species that are important for conservation and may need special management or protection. However, relatively few species’ critical habitats designations incorporate habitat suitability models or seasonal specificity, even when that information exists. Gunnison sage-grouse (GUSG) have declined substantially from their historical range and were listed as threatened by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in November 2014. GUSG are distributed into eight isolated populations in Colorado and Utah, and one population, the Gunnison Basin (GB), has been the focus of much research. Aims To provide season-specific resource selection models to improve targeted conservation actions within the designated critical habitat in the GB. Methods We utilised radio-telemetry data from GUSG captured and monitored from 2004 to 2010. We were able to estimate resource selection models for the breeding (1 April–15 July) and summer (16 July–30 September) seasons in the GB using vegetation, topographical and anthropogenic variables. We compared the seasonal models with the existing critical habitat to investigate whether the more specific seasonal models helped identify priority habitat for GUSG. Key results The predictive surface for the breeding model indicated higher use of large areas of sagebrush, whereas the predictive surface for the summer model predicted use of more diverse habitats. The breeding and summer models (combined) matched the current critical habitat designation 68.5% of the time. We found that although the overall habitat was similar between the critical habitat designation and our combined models, the pattern and configuration of the habitat were very different. Conclusions These models highlight areas with favourable environmental variables and spatial juxtaposition to establish priority habitat within the critical habitat designated by USFWS. More seasonally specific resource selection models will assist in identifying specific areas within the critical habitat designation to concentrate habitat improvements, conservation and restoration within the GB. Implications This information can be used to provide insight into the patterns of seasonal habitat selection and can identify priority GUSG habitat to incorporate into critical habitat designation for targeted management actions.

scholarly journals Incorporating within- and between-patch resource selection in identification of critical habitat for brood-rearing greater sage-grouse

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R Dzialak ◽  
Chad V Olson ◽  
Stephen L Webb ◽  
Seth M Harju ◽  
Jeffrey B Winstead
Keyword(s):  
Resource Selection ◽  
Sage Grouse ◽  
Critical Habitat ◽  
Brood Rearing

scholarly journals Landscape Conservation Forecasting for Data-Poor at-Risk Species on Western Public Lands, United States

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Louis Provencher ◽  
Kevin Badik ◽  
Tanya Anderson ◽  
Joel Tuhy ◽  
Dan Fletcher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Habitat Suitability ◽  
Public Lands ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Perennial Grasses ◽  
Prairie Dog ◽  
Sage Grouse ◽  
Global Circulation Models ◽  
Management Actions

Managing vast federal public lands governed by multiple land use policies creates challenges when demographic data on at-risk species are lacking. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management Cedar City Field Office used this project in the Black Mountains (Utah) to inform vegetation management supporting at-risk greater sage-grouse and Utah prairie dog planning. Ecological systems were mapped from satellite remote sensing imagery and used to model species habitat suitability under two levels of management activity (custodial, preferred) and climate scenarios for historic and two global circulation models. Spatial state-and-transition models of ecological systems were simulated for all six scenarios up to 60 years while coupled with expert-developed habitat suitability indices. All ecological systems are at least moderately departed from reference conditions in 2012, whereas habitat suitability was 50.5% and 48.4% for sage-grouse and prairie dog, respectively. Management actions replaced non-native annual grasslands with perennial grasses, removed conifers, and controlled exotic forbs. The drier climate most affected ecological departure and prairie dog habitat suitability at 30 years only. Different climates influenced spatial patterns of sage-grouse habitat suitability, but nonspatial values were unchanged. Climate impacts on fire, vegetation succession, and restoration explain many results. Front-loading restoration is predicted to benefit under future drier climate.

scholarly journals Overview on the distribution of gorgonian species in Tunisian marine coastal waters (central Mediterranean)

2018 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raouia Ghanem ◽  
Emna Soufi Kechaou ◽  
Jamila Ben Souissi ◽  
Joaquim Garrabou
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Waters ◽  
Local Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
Gorgonian Species ◽  
Species Richness And Abundance ◽  
And Function

Gorgonian species play an important ecological role in the structure and function of marine communities. Human activities are negatively affecting the conservation status of gorgonian populations in the Mediterranean. Acquiring knowledge of gorgonian distribution is therefore a key step required to promote efficient management and conservation actions. However, information on the distribution of gorgonian species is lacking in many Mediterranean areas. This study aimed to provide an overview of the geographic and bathymetric distributions of gorgonians in the coastal waters of the Tunisian coast (1136 km). The sampling design encompassed three sectors, 27 localities and 87 sites. Information was collected from scuba diving (26 sites) and local ecological knowledge surveys of fishermen and divers (132 interviews), as well as from a literature review. Overall, the occurrence of eight gorgonians was confirmed at 54 out of the 87 sites surveyed in Tunisian coastal waters (7-120 m depth). The species that were found were Eunicella singularis, Eunicella cavolini, Paramuricea clavata, Paramuricea macrospina, Leptogorgia sarmentosa, Eunicella verrucosa, Corallium rubrum and Ellisella paraplexauroides. The highest gorgonian species richness and abundance was recorded in northern, followed by eastern Tunisian waters. In the southern areas only one species was recorded. This pattern was related to the rocky substrate that characterizes the northern and eastern coasts of Tunisia. This study is the first to report the occurrence of E. singularis, E. cavolini, E. verrucosa and Leptogorgia sarmentosa in northern and eastern Tunisian waters. The results are discussed in the hope of guiding future conservation and management actions for gorgonian assemblages in Tunisia.

scholarly journals Implications of Spatially Variable Costs and Habitat Conversion Risk in Landscape-Scale Conservation Planning

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 402-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Post van der Burg ◽  
Neil Chartier ◽  
Ryan Drum
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Variation ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Tallgrass Prairie ◽  
Habitat Conservation ◽  
Optimal Placement ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
The North ◽  
Conservation Costs ◽  
Conservation Actions

Abstract “Strategic habitat conservation” refers to a process used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop cost-efficient strategies for conserving wildlife populations and their habitats. Strategic habitat conservation focuses on resolving uncertainties surrounding habitat conservation to meet specific wildlife population objectives (i.e., targets) and developing tools to guide where conservation actions should be focused on the landscape. Although there are examples of using optimization models to highlight where conservation should be delivered, such methods often do not explicitly account for spatial variation in the costs of conservation actions. Furthermore, many planning approaches assume that habitat protection is a preferred option, but they do not assess its value relative to other actions, such as restoration. We developed a case study to assess the implications of accounting for and ignoring spatial variation in conservation costs in optimizing conservation targets. We included assumptions about habitat loss to determine the extent to which protection or restoration would be necessary to meet an established population target. Our case study focused on optimal placement of grassland protection or restoration actions to influence bobolink Dolichonyx oryzivorus populations in the tallgrass prairie ecoregion of the north central United States. Our results show that not accounting for spatially variable costs doubled or tripled the cost of meeting the population target. Furthermore, our results suggest that one should not assume that protecting existing habitat is always a preferred option. Rather, our results show that the balance between protection and restoration can be influenced by a combination of desired targets, assumptions about habitat loss, and the relative cost of the two actions. Our analysis also points out how difficult it may be to reach targets, given the expense to meet them. We suggest that a full accounting of expected costs and benefits will help to guide development of viable management actions and meaningful conservation plans.

scholarly journals Spatial Distribution of Greater Sage-Grouse Nests in Relatively Contiguous Sagebrush Habitats

The Condor ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 742-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Holloran ◽  
Stanley H. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Centrocercus Urophasianus ◽  
Spatial Arrangement ◽  
Population Viability ◽  
Prey Detection ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Sage Grouse ◽  
Nesting Habitat ◽  
Nesting Site ◽  
Low Probability

Abstract Degradation of nesting habitat has been proposed as a factor contributing to Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) population declines throughout North America. Delineating suitable nesting habitat across landscapes with relatively contiguous sagebrush cover is difficult but important to identify areas for protection. We used radio-telemetry to locate Greater Sage-Grouse nests in relatively contiguous sagebrush habitats in Wyoming to investigate the spatial arrangement of nests relative to lek and other nest locations. Nest distributions were spatially related to lek location within 3 and 5 km of a lek, and a 5-km buffer included 64% of the nests. There was no relationship between lek size and lek-to-nest distance, suggesting that accurate population trend evaluation might require lek surveys in addition to lek counts. Closest known lek-to-nest distance was greater for successfully hatched compared to destroyed nests, and closely spaced nests tended to experience lower success and have higher probabilities of both nests experiencing the same fate compared to isolated nests, suggesting that a mechanism of enhanced prey detection occurred at higher nest densities. A low probability that a given individual's consecutive-year nest spacing occurred randomly suggested nesting site-area fidelity. Although a grouped pattern of nests occurred within 5 km of a lek, the proportion of nesting females located farther than 5 km could be important for population viability. Managers should limit strategies that negatively influence nesting habitat regardless of lek locations, and preserve adequate amounts of unaltered nesting habitat within treatment boundaries to maintain nest dispersion and provide sites for philopatric individuals.

scholarly journals Sea ice resource selection models for polar bears in the Barents Sea subpopulation

Ecography ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Lone ◽  
Benjamin Merkel ◽  
Christian Lydersen ◽  
Kit M. Kovacs ◽  
Jon Aars
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Resource Selection ◽  
Barents Sea ◽  
Polar Bears ◽  
Selection Models ◽  
The Barents Sea

scholarly journals Linking resource selection and step selection models for habitat preferences in animals

Ecology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Théo Michelot ◽  
Paul G. Blackwell ◽  
Jason Matthiopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Resource Selection ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Selection Models ◽  
Step Selection

Migratory status determines resource selection by American Woodcock at an important fall stopover, Cape May, New Jersey

The Condor ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian B Allen ◽  
Daniel G McAuley ◽  
Erik J Blomberg
Keyword(s):  
New Jersey ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Classification Accuracy ◽  
Resource Selection ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Stopover Site ◽  
Land Cover Types ◽  
American Woodcock ◽  
Landscape Characteristics ◽  
Wetland Forest

Abstract Migration is a period of high activity and exposure during which risks and energetic demand on individuals may be greater than during nonmigratory periods. Stopover locations can help mitigate these threats by providing supplemental energy en route to the animal’s end destination. Effective conservation of migratory species therefore requires an understanding of use of space that provides resources to migratory animals at stopover sites. We conducted a radio-telemetry study of a short-distance migrant, the American Woodcock (Scolopax minor), at an important stopover site, the Cape May Peninsula, New Jersey. Our objectives were to describe land-cover types used by American Woodcock and evaluate home range habitat selection for individuals that stopover during fall migration and those that choose to overwinter. We radio-marked 271 individuals and collected 1,949 locations from these birds (0–21 points individual–1) over 4 yr (2010 to 2013) to inform resource selection functions of land-cover types and other landscape characteristics by this species. We evaluated these relationships at multiple spatial extents for (1) birds known to have ultimately left the peninsula (presumed migrants), and (2) birds known to have remained on the peninsula into the winter (presumed winter residents). We found that migrants selected deciduous wetland forest, agriculture, mixed shrub, coniferous wetland forest, and coniferous shrub, while wintering residents selected deciduous wetland forest, coniferous shrub, and deciduous shrub. We used these results to develop predictive models of potential habitat: 7.80% of the peninsula was predicted to be potential stopover habitat for American Woodcock (95% classification accuracy) and 4.96% of the peninsula was predicted to be potential wintering habitat (85% classification accuracy). Our study is the first to report habitat relationships for migratory American Woodcock in the coastal U.S. and provides important spatial tools for local and regional managers to support migratory and winter resident woodcock populations into the future.

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