Optimizing conservation in species‐specific agricultural landscapes

Abstract

Recovery of grassland birds in agricultural landscapes is a global imperative. Agricultural landscapes are complex, and the value of resource patches may vary substantially among species. The spatial extent at which landscape features affect populations (i.e., scale of effect) may also differ among species. There is a need for regional-scale conservation planning that considers landscape-scale and species-specific responses of grassland birds to environmental change. We developed a spatially explicit approach to optimizing grassland conservation in the context of species-specific landscapes and prioritization of species recovery and applied it to a conservation program in Kentucky (USA). We used a hierarchical distance-sampling model with an embedded scale of effect predictor to estimate the relationship between landscape structure and abundance of eastern meadowlarks (Sturnella magna), field sparrows (Spizella pusilla), and northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus). We used a novel spatially explicit optimization procedure rooted in multi-attribute utility theory to design alternative conservation strategies (e.g., prioritize only northern bobwhite recovery or assign equal weight to each species' recovery). Eastern meadowlarks and field sparrows were more likely to respond to landscape-scale resource patch adjacencies than landscape-scale patch densities. Northern bobwhite responded to both landscape-scale resource patch adjacencies and densities and responded strongly to increased grassland density. Effects of landscape features on local abundance decreased as distance increased and had negligible influence at 0.8 km for eastern meadowlarks (0.7-1.2 km 95% Bayesian credibility intervals [BCI]), 2.5 km for field sparrows (1.5-5.8 km 95% BCI), and 8.4 km for bobwhite (6.4-26 km 95% BCI). Northern bobwhites were predicted to benefit greatly from future grassland conservation regardless of conservation priorities, but eastern meadowlark and field sparrow were not. Our results suggest similar species can respond differently to broad-scale conservation practices because of species-specific, distance-dependent relationships with landscape structure. Our framework is quantitative, conceptually simple, customizable, and predictive and can be used to optimize conservation in heterogeneous ecosystems while considering landscape-scale processes and explicit prioritization of species recovery.

How can environment get better? A research review of pollution governance

“…There are also regional organizations such as the Pan-American Global Change Institute, the Asia-Pacific Global Change Research Network, and the European Global Change Research Network, as well as the Global Ecological Observing System, the Global Climate Observing System, and the Global Ocean Observing System on a global scale. On the one hand, to formulate rational forest management goals, the landscape scale and forest management efficiency are regarded as the standard, and the forest management status is measured at the level of ecological and economic benefits (Schulte et al, 2008;Yeiser et al, 2021). On the other hand, spatial scale and time scale should be regarded as management boundaries to divide different management stages and formulate corresponding business planning and management policies.…”

Northern bobwhite breeding season and nest survival are greater on native grasslands

“…If we scale that relationship up to the forest‐prairie ecotones of the central United States, woody encroachment and agricultural intensification may be contributing to depressed breeding season survival and productivity rates of declining bobwhite populations (MacDonald et al 2013, Stanton et al 2018). Bobwhite populations are responsive to broad land cover features and these relationships may be correlated or interact with local vegetation structure and composition (Yeiser et al 2021, Sinnott et al 2022). Additional understanding of relationships between demography and broader land cover structure and composition would support regional conservation planning.…”

“…We quantified local cover type composition as percent cover within a 100‐m radius of each bird and nest location. While bobwhites likely respond to vegetation composition and structure at micro and macro scales (Taylor et al 1999 a , Yeiser et al 2021, Sinnott et al 2023 b ), we restricted our scale of interest to a radius in which vegetation composition and structure could vary daily with movements of individual bobwhites and that captured proximity of vegetation features associated with predator risk (Peterson et al 2022, Sinnott et al 2022). We selected a scale of interest based on prior knowledge of bobwhite and predator movements and vegetation associations, but we did not identify the optimal scale to evaluate demographic–environmental relationships (Monroe et al 2022).…”