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Sage-grouse (Centrocercus spp.) populations have declined dramatically throughout the western United States since the 1960s. Increased gas and oil development during this time has potentially contributed to the declines. I investigated impacts of development of natural gas fields on greater sage- grouse (C. urophasianus) breeding behavior, seasonal habitat selection, and population growth in the upper Green River Basin of western Wyoming. Greater sage-grouse in western Wyoming appeared to be excluded from attending leks situated within or near the development boundaries of natural gas fields. Declines in the number of displaying males were positively correlated with decreased distance from leks to gas-field-related...
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Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.)-dominated habitats in the western United States have experienced extensive, rapid changes due to development of natural-gas fields, resulting in localized declines of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) populations. It is unclear whether population declines in natural-gas fields are caused by avoidance or demographic impacts, or the age classes that are most affected. Land and wildlife management agencies need information on how energy developments affect sage-grouse populations to ensure informed land-use decisions are made, effective mitigation measures are identified, and appropriate monitoring programs are implemented (Sawyer et al. 2006). We used information from radio-equipped...
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Conclusions: The proportion of sage-grouse nests located within 3 vs 5 km suggested that a 5 km buffer around a lek encompassed the majority of nests. The results indicate that land managers should strive to maintain a 5 km buffer around known sage-grouse lek locations in order to ensure sage-grouse breeding success. Thresholds/Learnings: A 5000m buffer around sage-grouse leks encompassed the majority (64%) of sage-grouse nests. Synopsis: This study used radio-telemetry to determine nesting patterns of Greater Sage-Grouse relative to leks in a relatively contiguous sagebrush habitat in Wyoming. The proportion of nests located within 3 vs 5 km suggested that a 5 km buffer around a lek encompassed the majority of...
Categories: Publication;
Types: Citation,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
OGC WMS Service;
Tags: Greater sage-grouse,
Natural cover amount,
Wyoming,
birds,
connectivity, All tags...
habitat suitability,
sagebrush steppe,
sub-regional, Fewer tags
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Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) has been identified as a potential umbrella species with the assumption that conservation of their habitats in sagebrush ecosystems may benefit multiple other wildlife species, but co-occurrence with an umbrella species does not necessarily guarantee species will respond positively to management for sage-grouse. This may be particularly true for ecotones, such as at the eastern edge of the sage-grouse range where sagebrush steppe and Great Plains grasslands intersect. We used a novel application of neutral landscape models (Etherington et al., 2015) to evaluate observed and expected overlap between greater sage-grouse habitat (1994-2010; Fedy et al., 2014) and distribution...
Tags: Ecology,
Monte Carlo simulation,
Northeast Wyoming,
USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC),
United States of America, All tags...
Wyoming,
biogeography,
biota,
birds,
community ecology,
ecosystem monitoring,
grassland ecosystems,
grassland songbirds,
habitat suitability indices,
habitats,
keystone species,
mathematical simulation,
migratory species,
natural resource management,
neutral landscape models,
sagebrush,
shrubland ecosystems,
species co-occurrence,
umbrella species, Fewer tags
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Loss and degradation of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) rangelands due to an accelerated invasive annual grass-wildfire cycle and other stressors are significant management, conservation, and economic issues in the western U.S. These sagebrush rangelands comprise a unique biome spanning 11 states, support over 350 wildlife species, and provide important ecosystem services that include stabilizing the economies of western communities. Impacts to sagebrush ecosystem processes over large areas due to the annual grass-wildfire cycle necessitated the development of a coordinated, science-based strategy for improving efforts to achieve long-term protection, conservation, and restoration of sagebrush rangelands, which was framed...
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