Greater Sage-Grouse in the Southeast Montana Sage-Grouse ...
Conservation biogeography of a rare prairie grouse · Conservation biogeography of a rare prairie...
Transcript of Conservation biogeography of a rare prairie grouse · Conservation biogeography of a rare prairie...
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Conservation biogeography
of a rare prairie grouse
Michael A. Patten
University of Oklahoma Oklahoma Biological Survey, Department of Biology, and
Sutton Avian Research Center
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use of biogeographical techniques and principles to guide conservation planning
for example, island biogeography • species-area relationships
• degree of isolation
areas of endemism
patterns of species richness
trait variation across space
can consider the past and future, too
Conservation Biogeography
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lower panel: Smith-Patten and Patten (2015, Biotropica 47:128–135)
Examples include: o forecasts
o reserve selection
o invasive species
Single species or entire communities.
Does one size fit all?
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The Lesser Prairie-Chicken
photos by Noppadol Paothong
o a medium-sized grouse endemic to southern shortgrass and mixed grass prairies
o endemic to the south-central United States (i.e., it is found nowhere else, and never has been)
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Lekking
o lek mating system
o as with other open-country grouse, males gather communally to display to females . . . and to squabble with other males
photos by Greg W. Lasley, Noppadol Paothong, and Joel Sartore
o the goal is to lure a female to mate . . . at which point the male continues to display and the female heads off to
• build a nest
• guard her eggs
• (with luck) raise her young
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Data Collection
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Sample Sizes
• 898 radiotagged birds (>1000 banded) 550 in Oklahoma, 1999–2014 348 in New Mexico, 2000–2005
• 267 nests 142 in Oklahoma, 1999–2014 125 in New Mexico, 2000–2005
• >60,000 individual tracking locations
• ~18,000 vegetation samples 6483 vegetation and general cover transects 10488 “cone of vulnerability” and microclimate 737 1-m2 grass and forb plots
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The Data
o survivorship and cause of mortality
o movements (and home range)
o habitat use (including for leks and broods) – woody vegetation – grasses and forbs – “cone of vulnerability” – microclimate
o nest placement
o demography (clutch size, nest success, reproductive effort, etc.)
o mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites
o nutrition (blood screening)
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Southern Shortgrass Prairie
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Habitat Loss
Samson et al. (2004, Wildlife Society Bulletin 32:6–15)
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Population Decline
• total world population numbers 20,000–35,000
• population has declined by >90% in the past century
trend from Hagen et al. (2009, Journal of Wildlife Management 73:1325–1332)
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The U.S. Endangered Species Act
almost exactly a year ago today . . .
the species was listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act
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Controversy
Capitol Hill Outsider (2014)
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Ecoregions
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Ecoregions
10.4 birds / km2
23.3 birds / km2
13.0 birds / km2
18.1 birds / km2
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Ecoregions
plot from Oyler-McCance, DeYoung, Hagen, Johnson, Larsson, and Patten (in prep., targeted for Conservation Genetics)
STRUCTURE plot for 13 microsatellite loci
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Selectivity
Patten et al. (2005, Journal of Wildlife Management 69:1270–1278)
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Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
Me
an
Exp
osu
re A
ngle
(o)
0
10
20
30
40occupied
random
2003 2004
Microclimate
Patten et al. (2005, Journal of Wildlife Management 69:1270–1278)
Larsson et al. (2013, Southwestern Naturalist 58:135–149)
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Predator Avoidance
Larsson et al. (2013, Southwestern Naturalist 58:135–149)
summer '03 autumn '03 winter '03/04 spring '04 summer '04 autumn '04
Mean A
ppare
nt T
em
pera
ture
(oC
)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Mean E
xposure
Angle
(o)
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20depredations
angle
temperature
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Woody Vegetation and Adult Survival
Days
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Pro
ba
bili
ty o
f S
urv
iva
l
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
shrub cover <10%
shrub cover 10–20%
shrub cover >20%
Patten et al. (2005, Journal of Wildlife Management 69:1270–1278)
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Too Many Shrubs
cedar photos by Donald H. Wolfe
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Loss of Shrub Cover
Sagebrush Steppe Treatment Evaluation Project <http://www.sagestep.org/>
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Too Few Shrubs
Patten and Kelly (2010, Ecological Applications 20:2148–2156)
Mean Shrub Cover (%)
5 10 15 20 25 30
Num
ber
of N
ests
0
2
4
6
8
10 tebuthiuron
untreated
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Solutions
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The Prairie Has Changed
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Pruett et al. (2009, BioScience 59:257–262)
The Future
photos by Donald H. Wolfe
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Avoidance of Highways
Pruett et al. (2009, Conservation Biology 23:1253–1259)
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Pruett et al. (2009, Conservation Biology 23:1253–1259)
Avoidance of Power Lines
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Pruett et al. (2009, Conservation Biology 23:1253–1259)
Highways + Power Lines
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Pruett et al. (2009, Conservation Biology 23:1253–1259)
< 100 m 100–500 m
Lesser Prairie-Chicken
transmission line 6 (88–129) 156 (398–471)
Highway 412 24 (25–48) 182 (125–165)
Highway 283 20 (135–181) 166 (586–674)
Greater Prairie-Chicken
transmission line 0 (16–35) 5 (83–121)
no evidence of avoidance > 500 m from any feature
Avoidance Behavior*
*Behaviour
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meters (± SE)
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
oil or gas wellheads
center-pivot fields
unimproved roads
improved roads
roads (any type)
buildings
transmission lines
nests
birds
data from Robel et al. (2004, Transactions of the N. Am. Wildlife Natural Resources Conference 69:251–266)
Other Manmade Features
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Nest Placement
data from Pitman et al. (2005, Journal of Wildlife Management 69:1259–1269) meters
0 500 1000 1500 2000
tranmission line
wellhead
building
unimproved road
improved road
center-pivot
transmission line
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And so on . . .
Winder et al. (2014, Ecosphere 5[1]:3)
Hagen et al. (2011, Studies in Avian Biology 39:63–75
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Planning Tools
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Correlations
Truism 1: Where there is a powerline or a road there typically is a fence.
Spellerberg (1998, Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 7:317–333)
Truism 2: And where there is a fence there typically is:
o habitat loss o livestock o woody vegetation encroachment
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Fence Collisions
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Fence Collisions
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Determining Cause of Death
o radio-transmitters on our Lesser Prairie-Chickens equipped with a mortality switch
o recovered carcasses are examined to determine one of four causes of death: o raptor kill o mammal kill o collision — fence, power line, or car o other (or unknown) — this category has included, for
example, drowning in a stock tank
o note that collisions are associated with habitat fragmentation
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Mortality Cause
proportion of mortalities
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
raptor
mammal
fence
powerline
vehicle New Mexico
Oklahoma
data from Wolfe et al. (2007, Wildlife Biology 13[supp. 1]:95–104)
n = 260
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Days
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Pro
ba
bili
ty o
f S
urv
iva
l
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Days
0 200 400 600 800
Pro
ba
bili
ty o
f S
urv
iva
l
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Survival by Sex
♂
♀
Patten et al. (2005, Evolutionary Ecology Research 7:235–249)
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Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Pra
irie
-chic
ke
n k
ills d
ue
to
pre
da
tio
n
5
10
15
20
25
Pro
po
rtio
n o
f m
ale
s k
ille
d
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
predation
male mortality
Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Pra
irie
-chic
ke
n k
ills d
ue
to
co
llisio
ns
0
3
6
9
12
15
18
Pro
po
rtio
n o
f fe
ma
les k
ille
d
0
6
12
18
24
30
36collisions
female mortality
♀♀ and collisions
♂♂ and predation
Patten et al. (2005, Evolutionary Ecology Research 7:235–249)
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Life-history Evolution
o Lifetime reproductive value o a species-specific trait
o roughly constant among populations
o Trade-offs o both fecundity and lifespan contribute
o r selection vs. K selection
o common in birds
Predictions! Higher mortality of Oklahoma ♀♀ o larger clutch sizes
o more fledglings
o attempt more nests in a season
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Fecundity
New Mexico Oklahoma
fre
que
ncy
0
2
4
6
8
10
12 clutch size
fledglings
adapted from Patten et al. (2005, Evolutionary Ecology Research 7:235–249)
Mean nest attempts
/ year (± SE) 1.07 ± 0.04 1.55 ± 0.11
Proportion re-nesting
in same year 0.15 0.94
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Fragmentation
Patten et al. (2005, Evolutionary Ecology Research 7:235–249)
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New Mexico Oklahoma o mean parcel size ~1300 ha ~180 ha o roads / 10-km2 8.0 ± 2.3 14.5 ± 1.7 o fencing sections* ¼-sections
o land tenure differences have a historical basis (Homestead
Act vs. Spanish Land Grant)
o land tenure in the Texas Panhandle is much more like that in Oklahoma than in New Mexico
Patten et al. (2005, Evolutionary Ecology Research 7:235–249)
Land Tenure
*1 section ≈ 260 ha and is 1.6 km per side
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Plasticity?
Cumulative Precipitation (cm)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Me
an C
lutc
h S
ize
7
8
9
10
11
12
13 New Mexico
Oklahoma2002 (7)
2003 (4)
2000 (5)
2001 (7)
2001 (15)
1999 (2)
2002 (25)
2000 (2)
2003 (13)
Patten et al. (2005, Evolutionary Ecology Research 7:235–249)
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Nutrition?
retinol (vitamin A)
0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
clu
tch
siz
e
8
9
10
11
12
13
vitamin E
0 2 4 6 8 10
lutein
0 2 4 6 8
clu
tch
siz
e
8
9
10
11
12
13
zeaxanthin
0 2 4 6
canthaxanthin
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
clu
tch
siz
e
8
9
10
11
12
13
xanthophylls
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Only vitamin A (as retinol) is correlated with clutch size . . . but in the “wrong” direction:
New Mexico ♀♀ have higher levels of vitamin A but lay smaller clutches.
Sutton Avian Research Center unpubl. data
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o ♀♀ in Oklahoma die from fence collision far more often than do ♀♀ in New Mexico
o more roads more fences more collisions (ultimately a result of historic land parceling)
o survivorship in Oklahoma has (apparently) selected for clutch size and re-nesting rate
o larger clutches do not appear to be the result of variation in rainfall or nutrition
In summary . . .
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The fate of the mixed
grass prairie population?
Years
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Pro
ba
bili
ty o
f E
xtin
ctio
n
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
2005 Patten et al. (2005, Evolutionary Ecology Research 7:235–249)
2022
Year
2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
Po
pula
tio
n S
ize
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Oklahoma
New Mexico
100% of simulations forecast a population crash in Oklahoma, yielding
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Management Strategies
Option 1: Increase fecundity
Requires clutch sizes approaching 30 (!).
Requires 3 successful nests / year.
i.e., reproductive output must double.
Pruett et al. (2011, Conservation Genetics 12:1205–1214)
Option 2: Reduce ♀ mortality
At current Ne, raising adult ♀ survivorship to the level of that elsewhere (e.g., New Mexico) would ensure population persistence.
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Management Strategies
Option 1: Increase fecundity
Requires clutch sizes approaching 30 (!).
Requires 3 successful nests / year.
i.e., reproductive output must double.
Pruett et al. (2011, Conservation Genetics 12:1205–1214)
Option 2: Reduce ♀ mortality
At current Ne, raising adult ♀ survivorship to the level of that elsewhere (e.g., New Mexico) would ensure population persistence.
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Reducing Mortality
see Baines and Andrew (2003, Biological Conservation 110:169–176)
Reducing mortality
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Wolfe et al. (2009, Ecological Restoration 27:141–143)
Fence marking
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Does marking work?
efficacy not assessed fully, but . . . all except one collision 2007–2014 have been along unmarked fences!
Stevens et al. (2012, Wildlife Society Bulletin 27:141–143)
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Winder et al. (2015, Ecosphere in press)
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o kernel HR estimators
o land cover from aerial photos & GIS layers
o software estimates of habitat proportions & edge
Extent of Contiguous Habitat (ha)
0 10000 20000 30000 40000
Ho
me
Ra
nge
(ha
)
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Patten et al. (2011, Studies in Avian Biology 39:51–62)
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Wrapping Up
One size does not fit all!
A single, all-encompassing plan that would benefit each Lesser Prairie-Chicken population in the same way cannot be devised.
Instead, we must consider geographic variation among populations to guide management and conservation.
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Thank You Save the prairie chicken!