Synthesis of the effect of fire on lesser prairie‐chickens
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Information on the habitat requirements and effects of habitat management on grassland birds were summarized from information in more than 4,000 published and unpublished papers. A range map is provided to indicate the breeding distribution of Lesser Prairie-Chicken in the United States and southern Canada. Although birds frequently are observed outside the breeding range indicated, the maps are intended to show areas where managers might concentrate their attention. It may be ineffectual to manage habitat at a site for a species that rarely occurs in an area. The species account begins with a brief capsule statement, which provides the fundamental components or keys to management for the species. A section on breeding range outlines the current breeding distribution of the species in North America. The suitable habitat section describes the breeding habitat and occasionally microhabitat characteristics of the species, especially those habitats that occur in the Great Plains. Details on habitat and microhabitat requirements often provide clues to how a species will respond to a particular management practice. A table near the end of the account complements the section on suitable habitat, and lists the specific habitat characteristics for the species by individual studies. A special section on prey habitat is included for those predatory species that have more specific prey requirements. The area requirements section provides details on territory and home range sizes, minimum area requirements, and the effects of patch size, edges, and other landscape and habitat features on abundance and productivity. It may be futile to manage a small block of suitable habitat for a species that has minimum area requirements that are larger than the area being managed. The Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) is an obligate brood parasite of many grassland birds. The section on cowbird brood parasitism summarizes rates of cowbird parasitism, host responses to parasitism, and factors that influence parasitism, such as nest concealment and host density. The impact of management depends, in part, upon a species’ nesting phenology and biology. The section on breeding-season phenology and site fidelity includes details on spring arrival and fall departure for migratory populations in the Great Plains, peak breeding periods, the tendency to renest after nest failure or success, and the propensity to return to a previous breeding site. The duration and timing of breeding varies among regions and years. Species’ response to management summarizes the current knowledge and major findings in the literature on the effects of different management practices on the species. The section on management recommendations complements the previous section and summarizes specific recommendations for habitat management provided in the literature. If management recommendations differ in different portions of the species’ breeding range, recommendations are given separately by region. The literature cited contains references to published and unpublished literature on the management effects and habitat requirements of the species. This section is not meant to be a complete bibliography; a searchable, annotated bibliography of published and unpublished papers dealing with habitat needs of grassland birds and their responses to habitat management is posted at the Web site mentioned below.
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ABSTRACT Loss of native grasslands by anthropogenic disturbances has reduced availability and connectivity of habitat for many grassland species. A primary threat to contiguous grasslands is the encroachment of woody vegetation, which is spurred by disturbances that take on many forms from energy development, fire suppression, and grazing. These disturbances are exacerbated by natural- and human-driven cycles of changes in climate punctuated by drought and desertification conditions. Encroachment of honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) into the prairies of southeastern New Mexico has potentially limited habitat for numerous grassland species, including lesser prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus). To determine them agnitude of impacts of distribution of mesquite and how lesser prairie-chickens respond tomesquite presence on the landscape in southeastern New Mexico, we evaluated seasonal space use of lesser prairie-chickens in the breeding and nonbreeding seasons. We derived several remotely sensed...
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Abstract Wildlife habitat use is the result of behaviors that occur at multiple spatial and temporal scales. The interactions between these behaviors can often result in complex patterns of selection that can make it challenging to select the most appropriate scale to implement management actions. Greater Prairie‐Chickens ( Tympanuchus cupido ), a declining grassland grouse species, face many conservation challenges throughout its distribution, including increased fragmentation from anthropogenic activities (e.g., energy development and altered disturbance regimes). However, much of the literature on this species has focused on a narrow portion of its lifecycle, specifically the breeding season. We examined habitat use of female Greater Prairie‐Chickens in a grassland that is managed with prescribed fire and grazing and that has also undergone considerable development for oil and gas production. We developed discrete choice models for four behaviorally distinct life‐history stages and two spatial scales to evaluate how rangeland management, energy development, and scale influence habitat use throughout the annual cycle. Additionally, we used cumulative distribution functions to determine response distances to landscape features. We found that time since fire, proximity to woodlands and proximity of lek sites were the most consistent predictors of habitat use during most periods and spatial scales. Greater Prairie‐Chickens consistently avoided woodlands and remained relatively close to lek sites during all parts of the year. Selection of time since fire varied through the year with Greater Prairie‐Chickens primarily using unburned patches in the lekking and nesting season and recently burned patches in the post‐nesting and nonbreeding season. Greater Prairie‐Chickens demonstrated a seasonally variable response to energy development, avoiding power lines and areas with a high densities of oil wells by as much as 300–600 m in the lekking, post‐nesting, and nonbreeding season. Management actions that promote vegetation heterogeneity will benefit Greater Prairie‐Chickens by creating a variety of seral stages used during different life stages, but efforts should be made to limit future fragmentation of grasslands by energy development.
Lek mating
Prescribed burn
Conservation Reserve Program
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