Dispersal, Reproductive Success, and Habitat Use by Translocated Lesser Prairie-chickens

Dispersal, Reproductive Success, and Habitat Use by Translocated Lesser Prairie-chickens
Author: Liam Akerlof Berigan
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2019
Genre:
ISBN:

Lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) populations in the Sand Sagebrush Prairie Ecoregion have reached historic lows in the last decade. Former core areas of the ecoregion, such as the U.S. Forest Service Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands in southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado, have reached population densities so low that populations will not be able to recover without a new source of birds. In an attempt to recolonize previously occupied areas in the region, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism translocated 411 lesser prairie-chickens to the National Grasslands between fall 2016 and spring 2019. For a translocation project to be successful, translocated birds need to stay near the release site, find habitat that meets their survival requirements, and successfully reproduce. I assessed the success of the translocation project to determine which of these requirements were met following release to meet the goal of increasing lesser prairie-chicken density on the National Grasslands and define potential obstacles for future translocation projects. I estimated nest success of lesser prairie-chickens translocated to the National Grasslands using Program MARK and determined those factors important in predicting nest success. I found that the number of years that had elapsed since the bird's release was the best predictor of its nesting success in any given year. This fits with existing literature on grouse translocations, which state that translocation effects dissipate in years following release. Unfortunately, only 10.3% of translocated birds survived into the second year to take advantage of the increased nest success rate. My analysis of lesser prairie-chicken movement after release showed extensive dispersal away from the release site, with 99% of birds undergoing a dispersal movement >5 km from the release site. I conducted a behavioral change point analysis on translocated birds as they dispersed to determine where they settled down and how long their dispersal lasted. Birds moved an average of 144 km during their 1-2 month dispersal movement following release. Despite the presence of leks and habitat at the release sites, 69% of released birds settled >5 km from their release site after their movements. These results indicate that dispersal is an innate response to translocation, and release site placement will not be sufficient to minimize the dispersal movement.

Assessment of Lesser Prairie-chicken Translocation Through Survival, Space Use, and Resource Selection

Assessment of Lesser Prairie-chicken Translocation Through Survival, Space Use, and Resource Selection
Author: Elisabeth Caroline Teige
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN:

Translocation is defined as the deliberate movement of organisms from one site to another where the main objective is a conservation benefit. Translocations are used frequently as a management tool to restore or augment wildlife populations but generally have varying degrees of success. The lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is found in the southwestern Great Plains of the United States and currently occurs in four distinct ecoregions (Short-Grass Prairie/CRP Mosaic, Mixed-Grass Prairie, Sand Sagebrush Prairie, and Sand Shinnery Oak Prairie) across five states (Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, USA). Recent estimates suggest the lesser prairie-chicken currently occupies only 15% of their estimated historical range. Within the current occupied range, lesser prairie-chicken populations have been experiencing moderate to severe population declines. Since a contemporary peak of an estimated 150,000 birds in the mid-1980s, lesser prairie-chicken populations have declined to an estimated abundance of 34,408 in 2020. The largest contemporary decline in population abundance and occupied range is occurring in the Sand Sagebrush Prairie Ecoregion. Historically, the Sand Sagebrush Prairie Ecoregion was the epicenter of the lesser prairie-chicken population despite a large area of vegetation in the ecoregion being decimated during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. In 2020, only 171 birds were estimated for the ecoregion. In response to the extreme population decline and elevated extinction risk for the lesser prairie-chicken population in the Sand Sagebrush Prairie Ecoregion, myself, along with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and U.S. Forest Service translocated lesser prairie-chickens from the Short-Grass Prairie/CRP Mosaic Ecoregion in northwest Kansas, where lesser prairie-chickens are currently most abundant, to release sites in sand sagebrush prairie landscapes on the U.S. Forest Service, Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands in southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado, respectively. I captured, marked, translocated, and monitored 411 lesser prairie chickens during spring 2016-2019 to understand how translocation affects demographic rates, space use, and habitat selection for assessing translocation as a conservation tool for this declining prairie-grouse. My objectives were to estimate lek counts, nest success, reproductive success, adult survival, home range establishment and land cover composition, and selection of habitat vegetation characteristics at local and broad scales to assess lesser prairie-chickens response to translocation in a novel landscape. Within two weeks of release, 22.8% of birds either died or were never located. I used known-fate and nest survival models in Program MARK to determine adult survival and nest success of lesser prairie-chickens. I estimated breeding season survival for both males and females to be 0.44 ± 0.02 (SE) and nest success as 0.37 ± 0.04 (SE) but with a declining trend for the entire study period (2017-2020). Overall, vital rates were average to low and male high counts on established lek started to decline in 2021, two years following active translocation. Habitat availability in a novel environment may become an increasing concern as translocated lesser prairie-chickens have consistently larger home ranges than their native counterparts. Home ranges of translocated birds was comprised of greater area of Conservation Reserve Program land than any other cover type on the landscape. Lastly, on a local scale (300 m), I found little selection for vegetation at used locations, but lesser prairie-chickens used thicker and taller cover for nest sites. This vegetation use was expected and conveys the importance of the vegetation structure needed at a translocation release site. My results highlight the importance of land management conservation and its role in the conservation of lesser prairie-chicken populations. The translocation may have some short-term success but current vital rates of lesser prairie chickens may not be enough to overcome inherent limiting factors of the ecoregion for the population to become self-sustaining and the translocation to be deemed a long-term success.

NHS Factivities

NHS Factivities
Author: Illinois. Natural History Survey Division
Publisher:
Total Pages: 298
Release: 1995
Genre: Natural history
ISBN:

Response of Greater Prairie-chickens to Natural and Anthropogenic Disturbance on Fort Riley

Response of Greater Prairie-chickens to Natural and Anthropogenic Disturbance on Fort Riley
Author: Jacquelyn Gehrt
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN:

Greater Prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus cupido) historically occupied 20 states within the contiguous United States and four Canadian provinces; however, due to habitat degradation and loss, they are currently found in 11 states; only four of which have a stable population. Kansas supports a relatively large abundance of Greater Prairie-chickens, where the Flint Hills ecoregion historically supported the largest population of all ecoregions. In the past decade, however, the Flint Hills population has declined to an estimated 8,334 individuals in 2021 from 34,180 individuals in 2015 due to changes and intensification of grassland management practices. The Fort Riley Military Reservation in the northwest portion of the Flint Hills ecoregion is one of a few areas within the ecoregion that does not implement grazing or vast annual burning. The Greater Prairie-chicken population within Fort Riley has remained stable over the past 25 years despite being constrained by surrounding landscape features and development. To understand why this population is doing relatively well compared to populations in surrounding areas, I trapped, collared, and tracked 46 female Greater Prairie-chickens from March-April 2019-2020 on Fort Riley. My goals with this project were to assess female survival, nest survival, resource selection, and space use during the breeding season (Apr-Aug) on the military reservation. Despite being free from grazing and annual burning, Fort Riley experiences fairly constant military activity, which may elicit responses from Greater Prairie-chickens. I used known-fate and nest survival models in Program MARK to estimate female survival and nest success of Greater Prairie-chickens. I estimated breeding season survival as 0.2750 ± 0.0650 (SE) and nest survival as 0.2643 ± 0.0689 (SE), which are average and high for the Flint Hills, respectively. I used logistic regression models to assess resource selection by Greater Prairie-chicken females. I analyzed landscape features, vegetation variables, and burn mosaics to understand which features had the most influence on resource selection and found landscape features to impact resource selection. Females avoided trees within Fort Riley (probability of use greatest at 2,000 m from nearest tree) at a greater margin than any other study in Kansas. Lastly I calculated home ranges, net, and total daily displacement across the lekking, nesting, and post-nesting stages of the breeding season to understand how Greater Prairie-chickens responded to military activity. Home ranges were slightly smaller than those in surrounding areas yet breeding stage trends remained constant (lekking: 238 ± 43 ha, nesting: 115 ± 20 ha, post-nesting: 113 ± 11 ha) when compared to past literature. Lastly, total daily movements did not differ significantly between days where activity was occurring versus when it was not (training occurring: 1,121 ± 127m, training not occurring: 1,309 ± 63m). My findings suggest that despite being in a constrained environment, Greater Prairie-chickens on Fort Riley are doing well demographically and are not showing signs of being affected by military activity. Because of the constrained environment, however, it is important for land managers to monitor woody encroachment and other tall vertical features as this may lead to loss of habitat and cause potential negative effects on the Fort Riley population.

Restoring America's Wildlife, 1937-1987

Restoring America's Wildlife, 1937-1987
Author: Harmon Kallman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 408
Release: 1987
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

Fittingly, the Act's chief sponsors were a Senator from Nevada, Key Pittman, and a Representative from Virginia, A. Willis Robertson. The Pittman-Robertson Act, as it came to be called, sped through Congress and was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt on September 2, 1937. From a modest beginning, the Pittman-Robertson program has grown with the economy and the human population of our country. By now it has channeled nearly $1.7 billion in Federal excise tax receipts, augmented by some $600 million from the States, into activities to restore wildlife. The projects include State acquisition of acreage needed to bring wildlife back, research into wildlife requirements and problems, active management of habitats, and development of scientific ways to enable wildlife and people to share our land in harmony. The program has strengthened State governments and built wildlife management into a respected profession.

Grouse

Grouse
Author: Ilse Storch
Publisher: World Conservation Union
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2000
Genre: Birds
ISBN: 9782831705194

Grouse have long attracted and fascinated people. Their display behavior, and their traditional communal mating grounds or "leks", have inspired poetry and folklore as well as scientific theories on sexual selection and mating systems. In many parts of their range, hunting plays a major role in the culture, economy, and subsistence of local communities. Although from a global perspective their status is not critical, grouse are far from being safe, and on a local scale, many local populations of grouse are declining and threatened with extinction. This plan provides a guide to the distribution, status, and threats to all grouse species; its major objective is to identify conservation priorities from a global perspective.