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Michael A Schroeder

Degradation, fragmentation, and loss of native sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) landscapes have imperiled these habitats and their associated avifauna. Historically, this vast piece of the Western landscape has been undervalued: even though more than 70% of all remaining sagebrush habitat in the United States is publicly owned, <3% of it is protected as federal reserves or national parks. We review the threats facing birds in sagebrush habitats to emphasize the urgency for conservation and research actions, and synthesize existing information that forms the foundation for recommended research directions. Management and conservation of birds in sagebrush habitats will require more research into four major topics: (1) identification...
Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) once occupied parts of 12 states within the western United States and 3 Canadian provinces. Populations of greater sage-grouse have undergone long-term population declines. The sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) habitats on which sage-grouse depend have experienced extensive alteration and loss. Consequently, concerns raised for the conservation and management of greater sage-grouse and their habitats have resulted in petitions to list greater sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act. In this report, we assessed the ecological status and potential factors that influenced greater sage-grouse and sagebrush habitats across their entire distribution. We used a large-scale...
The status of sage grouse populations and habitats has been a concern to sportsmen and biologists for >80 years. Despite management and research efforts that date to the 1930s, breeding populations of this species have declined throughout much of its range. In May 1999, the western sage grouse (C. urophasianus phaios) in Washington was petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act because of population and habitat declines (C. Warren, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, personal communication). Sage grouse populations are allied closely with sagebrush (Artemisia spp.). Despite the well-known importance of this habitat to sage grouse and other sagebrush obligates, the quality and quantity of sagebrush...
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Conservation translocations are a common wildlife management tool that can be difficult to implement and evaluate for effectiveness. Genetic information can provide unique insight regarding local impact of translocations (e.g., presence and retention of introduced genetic variation) and identifying suitable source and recipient populations (e.g., adaptive similarity). We developed two genetic data sets and wrote statistical code to evaluate conservation translocation effectiveness into the isolated northwestern region of the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) distribution and to retrospectively evaluate adaptive divergence among source and recipient populations. Our first data set was microsatellite-based...
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