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Effective conservation requires an understanding of how species respond to management actions. For species of conservation concern such as greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), this understanding is urgently needed. We developed resource selection functions to assess the influence of mechanical treatments of mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata vaseyana) on habitat selection by greater sage-grouse during the critical brooding period. We measured multiple vegetation components, including shrub, grass, and forb cover, at random locations before and after sagebrush treatments. We then used model selection and a 19-yr telemetry data set (1998–2016) to evaluate response of greater sage-grouse to treatments. Statistical models were built using 418 locations from 72 females with broods (333 locations, 61 females pretreatment; 85 locations, 11 females post treatment). Using a difference in means comparison, we found shrub canopy cover decreased (mean ± SE) from 31.81% ± 0.70% to 16.16%...

Supplementing wildlife populations with resources during times of limitation has been suggested for many species. The focus of our study was to determine responses of northern bobwhite ( Colinus virginianus; Linnaeus) and scaled quail ( Callipepla squamata; Vigors) to artificial surface-water sources in semiarid rangelands. From 2012–2014, we monitored quail populations via radio telemetry at Beaver River Wildlife Management Area, Beaver County, Oklahoma. We used cumulative distribution functions and resource utilization functions (RUFs) to determine behavioral responses of quail to water sources. We also used Program MARK to determine if water sources had any effect on quail vital rates. Our results indicated that both northern bobwhite and scaled quail exhibited behavioral responses to the presence of surface-water sources. Northern bobwhite selected for areas β ¯ = –0.06, SE = β ¯ = 0.01, SE = 0.02) response was nonsignificant on the basis of RUFs. Scaled quail selected for areas β ¯ = –0.31, SE = 0.07) indicated a stronger response for scaled quail than bobwhite. Conversely, there was no direct effect of surface water on quail vital rates or nest success during the course of our study. Although water may affect behavioral patterns of quail, we found no evidence that it affects quail survival or nest success for these two species.

article i nfo Conservation of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) systems is one of the most difficult and pressing concerns in western North America. Sagebrush obligates, such as greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter sage- grouse), have experienced population declines as sagebrush systems have degraded. Science-based management is crucial to improve certainty in range management practices. Although large-scale implementation of manage- ment regimens within an experimental design is difficult, long-term case studies provide opportunities to improve learning and develop and refine hypotheses. We used 25 years of data across three large landscapes in northern Utah and southwestern Wyoming to assess sage-grouse population change and corresponding land management differences in a case study design. Sage-grouse lek counts at our Deseret Land and Livestock (DLL) study site in- creased relative to surrounding populationsincorrespondence with the implementation of small-acreage sagebrush treatments designed to reduce shrub cover and increase herbaceous understory within a prescriptive grazing management framework.Thehigherlekcountsweresustainedfornearly15 years. However, with continuedsagebrush treatments and the onset of adverse winter conditions, DLLlek counts declined to levels consistent with surrounding areas. During summer, DLL sage-grouse broods used plots of small, treated sagebrush mosaics more than untreated reference sites. We hypothesize that sagebrush treatments on DLL increased availability of grasses and forbs to sage- grouse, similar to other studies, but that cumulative annual reductions in sagebrush may have reduced availability of sagebrush cover for sage-grouse seasonal needs at DLL, especially when extreme winter weather occurred. © 2015The Authors.Published by ElsevierB.V.onbehalfofSocietyforRange Management.Thisisanopenaccess article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Grasslands are highly imperiled as a result of widespread conversion for agriculture and alteration from human development. Remaining grasslands are susceptible to mismanagement, development and fragmentation, and variable weather associated with global climate change. Understanding the response of declining grassland species to these challenges will be important for informed conservation and management. We assessed Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) survival and nest site selection in tallgrass prairie characterized by interacting fire and grazing disturbance and oil and gas infrastructure. We found that Greater Prairie-Chicken survival was most affected by weather variability (expressed in our models as solar radiation) while most other variables had little influence. Focal disturbance did not affect survival directly, but vegetation height, which is greatly influenced by fire and grazing processes, was positively associated with nest survival. Greater Prairie-Chickens chose nesting locations that maximized time post fire while minimizing tree cover and distance to leks. Future conservation efforts for Greater Prairie-Chickens should focus on variable fire regimens that create areas of residual biomass to increase vegetation height and potentially reduce the effects of solar radiation while decreasing woody vegetation that is avoided by nesting females. However, even the best management practices may prove to be futile in the southern Great Plains if climate change continues to create unfavorable nest survival conditions. Management that creates and maintains suitable nesting sites through the use of interacting fire and grazing should maximize the potential for high reproduction in years when local weather variables are favorable.

The link between individual variation in resource selection (e.g., functional response) and fitness creates a foundation for understanding wildlife-habitat relationships. Although many anthropogenic activities adversely affect these relationships, it is largely unknown whether projects implemented to benefit wildlife populations actually achieve this outcome. For sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) obligate species such as the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse), expansion of juniper (Juniperus spp.) and pinyon-pine (Pinus spp.; conifers) woodlands into sagebrush ecosystems has been identified as a conservation threat. This threat is intensified when a sagebrush ecosystem is bounded by naturally unsuitable habitats. As such, federal, state, and private land managers have implemented landscape-level management to remove conifers on thousands of hectares of sagebrush habitat across the western United States. Despite the scale of contemporary conifer treatments, little was previously known whether sage-grouse will occupy these manipulated landscapes and whether occupancy has consequences on fitness components. To address these questions, we monitored nest and brood success rates for 96 radio-marked sage-grouse from 2012-2015 that inhabited conifer-dominated landscapes in the Box Elder Sage-grouse Management Area in Utah where mechanical conifer removal projects were completed. We then linked sage-grouse resource selection to individual nest (n = 95) and brood (n = 56) success by incorporating random-slope Resource Selection Functions as explanatory predictors in a logistic brood success model. Using the novel approach of random slope covariates, we demonstrated that sage-grouse selected for nest and brooding sites closer to conifer removal areas and that the probability of individual nest and brood success declined (β = −0.10 and β = −0.74, respectively) as sage-grouse females selected sites farther from conifer removal areas. Our research provided the first evidence that mechanical conifer removal treatments can increase suitable available breeding habitats for female sage-grouse and that individuals who occupied these areas experienced enhanced nest and brood success.