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Author: John Daniel Kraft Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
In the southern Great Plains, the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus; hereafter LEPC), an obligate grassland species, has experienced significant population declines and range contractions with subsequent conservation concern. Management actions often use land cover types to make inference about habitat quality. Relatively little information is available related to grazed rangelands to guide conservation. The influences of land cover types and livestock grazing on LEPC habitat selection have not been researched extensively in western Kansas. I evaluated the influence of land cover types and grazing management on vegetation characteristics, habitat selection, and nest/adult survival of LEPC in western Kansas. Females were captured and radio-marked to monitor habitat use, nest success, and adult survival. Grazing and vegetation data were collected via producer correspondence and vegetation surveys, respectively. Vegetation composition and structure differed across land cover types, which can be used to make inferences about LEPC habitat quality. Habitat selection analyses corroborated the importance of breeding habitat in close proximity to leks (3 km) and identified land cover types selected for nesting (Conservation Reserve Program, Limy Upland, Saline Subirrigated) and brooding (Conservation Reserve Program, Red Clay Prairie, Sands, Sandy Lowland). Conservation Reserve Program patches positioned near rangelands contributed to LEPC reproductive success in northwest Kansas. In grazed lands, LEPC selected habitat close to leks (3 km) and large pastures (400 ha), exhibiting low-moderate stocking densities (
Author: John Daniel Kraft Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
In the southern Great Plains, the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus; hereafter LEPC), an obligate grassland species, has experienced significant population declines and range contractions with subsequent conservation concern. Management actions often use land cover types to make inference about habitat quality. Relatively little information is available related to grazed rangelands to guide conservation. The influences of land cover types and livestock grazing on LEPC habitat selection have not been researched extensively in western Kansas. I evaluated the influence of land cover types and grazing management on vegetation characteristics, habitat selection, and nest/adult survival of LEPC in western Kansas. Females were captured and radio-marked to monitor habitat use, nest success, and adult survival. Grazing and vegetation data were collected via producer correspondence and vegetation surveys, respectively. Vegetation composition and structure differed across land cover types, which can be used to make inferences about LEPC habitat quality. Habitat selection analyses corroborated the importance of breeding habitat in close proximity to leks (3 km) and identified land cover types selected for nesting (Conservation Reserve Program, Limy Upland, Saline Subirrigated) and brooding (Conservation Reserve Program, Red Clay Prairie, Sands, Sandy Lowland). Conservation Reserve Program patches positioned near rangelands contributed to LEPC reproductive success in northwest Kansas. In grazed lands, LEPC selected habitat close to leks (3 km) and large pastures (400 ha), exhibiting low-moderate stocking densities (
Author: David A. Spencer Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
The Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is a prairie grouse of conservation concern in the Southern Great Plains. In response to declining population numbers and ongoing threats to its habitat, the Lesser Prairie-Chicken was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in May 2014. In western Kansas, the Lesser Prairie-Chicken occupies the Sand Sagebrush Prairie, Mixed-grass Prairie, and Short-grass/CRP Mosaic Ecoregions. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the overall range and population has declined by 92% and 97% respectively. Much of this decline is attributed to the loss and fragmentation of native grasslands throughout the Lesser Prairie-Chicken range. Whereas much of the loss and degradation of native grassland have been attributed to anthropogenic activities such as conversion of grassland to cropland and energy exploration, federal legislation since the 1980s to convert cropland on highly erodible soils to perennial grasses through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) may curtail or reverse these trends. My objective was to document changes in the areal extent and connectivity of grasslands in the identified Lesser Prairie-Chicken range in Kansas from the 1950s to 2013 using remotely sensed data. I hypothesized that the total amount of grassland decreased between the 1950's and 2013 because of an increase in agricultural practices, but predicted an increase of grassland between 1985 and 2013 in response to the CRP. To document changes in grassland, land cover maps were generated through spectral classification of LANDSAT images and visual analysis of aerial photographs from the Army Map Service and USDA Farm Service Agency. Landscape composition and configuration were assessed using FRAGSTATS to compute a variety of landscape metrics measuring changes in the amount of grassland present as well as changes in the size and configuration of grassland patches. Since 1985, the amount of grassland in the Lesser Prairie-Chicken range in Kansas has increased by 210,9963.3 ha, a rise of 11.9%, while the mean patch size and area-weighted mean patch size of grassland increased 18.2% and 23.0% respectively, indicating grassland has become more connected during this time in response to the CRP. Prior to the implementation of CRP, the amount of grassland had been decreasing since 1950, as 66,722.0 ha of grassland was converted to croplands. The loss of grassland had a considerable effect on the patch size of grasslands, as mean patch size and area-weighted mean patch size decreased by 8.8% and 11.1% respectively. The primary driver of grassland loss between 1950 and 1985 was the emergence of center pivot irrigation, which had its greatest impact in western and southwestern parts of the range in Kansas. In particular, while the amount of grassland in Range 5, a region of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken range found in southwest Kansas, has increased overall since the 1950s by 4.7%, the area-weighted mean patch size has decreased by 53.0% in response to center pivot irrigation fragmenting the landscape. While the CRP has been successful in increasing and connecting grassland throughout the Lesser Prairie-Chicken range to offset the loss of grassland since the 1950s, continuation of the CRP faces an uncertain future in the face of rising commodity prices, energy development, and reduction in program scope leaving open the possibility that these areas that have created habitat for Lesser Prairie-Chickens could be lost. As time progresses, a reduction in the scope of the CRP would reduce the amount of habitat available to Lesser Prairie-Chickens, threatening the persistence of their population.
Author: David A. Haukos Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 1482240238 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 376
Book Description
Shortlisted for the 2018 TWS Wildlife Publication Awards in the edited book categoryLesser Prairie-Chickens have experienced substantial declines in terms of population and the extent of area that they occupy. While they are an elusive species, making it difficult at times to monitor them, current evidence indicates that they have been persistently
Author: Daniel S. Sullins Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
The lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is 1 of 3 prairie-grouse species in North America. Prairie-grouse have undergone local or widespread declines due to a loss of habitat through conversion to row crop agriculture, anthropogenic development, and alteration of ecological drivers that maintain quality grasslands. For lesser prairie-chickens, habitat loss and declines were deemed significant for listing as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2014. Despite a judge vacating the listing decision in 2015, the lesser prairie-chicken remains a species of concern. Conservation plans are currently being implemented and developed. To maximize the effectiveness of efforts, knowledge of the distribution of lesser prairie-chickens, regional demography, foods used during critical life-stages, and where to prioritize management is needed. To guide future conservation efforts with empirical evidence, I captured, marked with transmitters, and monitored female lesser prairie-chickens in Kansas and Colorado during 2013-2016 (n =307). I used location data to predict the distribution of habitat. Encounter data from individuals were used to estimate vital rates and integrated into a matrix population model to estimate population growth rates ([lambda]). The matrix model was then decomposed to identify life-stages that exert the greatest influence on [lambda] and vital rate contributions to differences in [lambda] among sites. After assessing demography, I examined the diet of adults and chicks during critical brood rearing and winter periods using a fecal DNA metabarcoding approach. Overall, potential habitat appears to compromise ~30% of the presumed lesser prairie-chicken range in Kansas with most habitat in the Mixed-Grass Prairie Ecoregion. Within occupied sites, populations were most sensitive to factors during the first year of life (chick and juvenile survival), however, the persistence of populations through drought may rely on adult survival. Among regional populations, breeding season, nest, and nonbreeding season survival rates contributed most to differences in [lambda] among sites, breeding season survival contributed to differences in [lambda] among more and less fragmented sites. During critical life-stages, diets were comprised of arthropod and plant foods. Among 80 readable fecal samples, 35% of the sequences were likely from Lepidoptera, 26% from Orthoptera, 14% from Araneae, and 13% from Hemiptera. Plant sequences from 137 fecal samples were comprised of genera similar to Ambrosia (27%) Latuca or Taraxacum (10%), Medicago (6%), and Triticum (5%). Among cover types, lesser prairie-chickens using native grasslands consumed a greater diversity of foods. Last, promising conservation options include the conversion of cropland to grassland through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and tree removal in mixed-grass prairie landscapes. Lesser prairie-chickens mostly used CRP during nesting and the nonbreeding season, during drier periods, and in drier portions of their distribution. Strategic CRP sign-up and tree removal could recover>60,000 ha and~100,000 ha of habitat respectively. In summary, conservation that targets management in areas within broad scale habitat constraints predicted will be most beneficial. In areas occupied by lesser prairie-chickens, management that increases brood survival in large grasslands having optimal nesting structure will elicit the strongest influence on population growth and will likely be the most resilient to stochastic drought-related effects.
Author: John Daniel Kraft
Author: John Daniel Kraft
Author: Steve Monfort
Author: David A. Spencer
Author: David A. Haukos
Author: Maple Andrew Taylor
Author: 
Author: Samuel Clark Martin
Author: Dwight R. Cable
Author: Gerald J. Horak
Author: Daniel S. Sullins