Quantifying restoration effectiveness using multi‐scale habitat models: implications for sage‐grouse in the Great Basin

Arkle, Robert S.; Pilliod, David S.; Hanser, Steven E.; Brooks, Matthew L.; Chambers, Jeanne C.; Grace, James B.; Knutson, Kevin C.; Pyke, David A.; Welty, Justin L.; Wirth, Troy A.

doi:10.1890/es13-00278.1

Cited by 106 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(57 reference statements)

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“…Our results suggest a habitat still not recovered 10 years following wildfire and subsequent compromised nesting success as a result of poor habitat quality. This pattern corroborates trends found by Arkle et al () in their multi‐scale occupancy modeling assessment on the effectiveness of post‐fire restoration treatments relative to sage‐grouse habitat quality throughout the Great Basin that found burned areas require ≥20 years to re‐establish sagebrush cover using past restoration methodologies. These findings, in conjunction with our results, suggest more thoughtful and intensive conservation practices are needed in the Virginia Mountains to protect the highest quality sage‐grouse habitats currently on the landscape while simultaneously working to restore native shrub habitats affected by wildfire.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Nest-site selection and reproductive success of greater sage-grouse in a fire-affected habitat of northwestern Nevada

Lockyer¹,

Coates

Casazza

et al. 2015

Jour. Wild. Mgmt.

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Identifying links between micro‐habitat selection and wildlife reproduction is imperative to population persistence and recovery. This information is particularly important for landscape species such as greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage‐grouse). Although this species has been widely studied, because environmental factors can affect sage‐grouse populations, local and regional studies are crucial for developing viable conservation strategies. We studied the habitat‐use patterns of 71 radio‐marked sage‐grouse inhabiting an area affected by wildfire in the Virginia Mountains of northwestern Nevada during 2009–2011 to determine the effect of micro‐habitat attributes on reproductive success. We measured standard vegetation parameters at nest and random sites using a multi‐scale approach (range = 0.01–15,527 ha). We used an information‐theoretic modeling approach to identify environmental factors influencing nest‐site selection and survival, and determine whether nest survival was a function of resource selection. Sage‐grouse selected micro‐sites with greater shrub canopy cover and less cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) cover than random sites. Total shrub canopy, including sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) and other shrub species, at small spatial scales (0.8 ha and 3.1 ha) was the single contributing selection factor to higher nest survival. These results indicate that reducing the risk of wildfire to maintain important sagebrush habitats could be emphasized in sage‐grouse conservation strategies in Nevada. Managers may seek to mitigate the influx of annual grass invasion by preserving large intact sagebrush‐dominated stands with a mixture of other shrub species. For this area of Nevada, the results suggest that ≥40% total shrub canopy cover in sage‐grouse nesting areas could yield improved reproductive success. Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Nest-site selection and reproductive success of greater sage-grouse in a fire-affected habitat of northwestern Nevada

Lockyer¹,

Coates

Casazza

et al. 2015

Jour. Wild. Mgmt.

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“…Although the available information on reptile responses to sage‐grouse habitat management is weak to non‐existent presently, many of the land cover associations between reptiles and sage‐grouse that we identified were somewhat similar. In other words, the correlative patterns (Table 3) for reptiles are fairly representative of greater sage‐grouse habitat preferences, including preferring intact stands of sagebrush with relatively low amounts of introduced grasses (e.g., crested wheatgrass, cheatgrass) or conifers (Arkle et al 2014, Farzan et al 2015). Conifer felling and removal (i.e., of pinyon pine and juniper trees encroaching into sagebrush) is one of the most common habitat management actions used to reduce perching and nesting structures for avian predators of sage‐grouse and reduce wildfire risk (Farzan et al 2015, Bombaci and Pejchar 2016, Holmes et al 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On public lands, the United States Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS) Resource Management Plans have recommended management actions across millions of hectares, including the removal of single leaf‐pinyon pine ( Pinus monophyla ), Colorado pinyon ( P. edulis ), western juniper ( Juniperus occidentalis ), and Utah juniper ( J. osteosperma ) woodlands, control of cheatgrass ( Bromus tectorum ) and other exotic annual grasses, and restoration of big sagebrush ( Artemisia tridentata ) following wildfires. Given the recent emphasis being placed on protecting intact sage‐grouse habitat and the extent of management actions where sagebrush has been lost or degraded (Arkle et al 2014), there is growing interest among stakeholders in assessing potential benefits or consequences of these expansive conservation efforts on co‐occurring species. The Sagebrush Science Initiative sponsored by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the USFWS is a good example (https://www.wafwa.org/initiatives/sagebrush_ecosystem_initiative/, accessed 18 Sep 2019).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reptiles Under the Conservation Umbrella of the Greater Sage‐Grouse

et al. 2020

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In conservation paradigms, management actions for umbrella species also benefit co‐occurring species because of overlapping ranges and similar habitat associations. The greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is an umbrella species because it occurs across vast sagebrush ecosystems of western North America and is the recipient of extensive habitat conservation and restoration efforts that might benefit sympatric species. Biologists' understanding of how non‐target species might benefit from sage‐grouse conservation is, however, limited. Reptiles, in particular, are of interest in this regard because of their relatively high diversity in shrublands and grasslands where sage‐grouse are found. Using spatial overlap of species distributions, land cover similarity statistics, and a literature review, we quantified which reptile species may benefit from the protection of intact sage‐grouse habitat and which may be affected by recent (since about 1990) habitat restoration actions targeting sage‐grouse. Of 190 reptile species in the United States and Canadian provinces where greater sage‐grouse occur, 70 (37%) occur within the range of the bird. Of these 70 species, about a third (11 snake and 11 lizard species) have >10% of their distribution area within the sage‐grouse range. Land cover similarity indices revealed that 14 of the 22 species (8 snake and 6 lizard species) had relatively similar land cover associations to those of sage‐grouse, suggesting greater potential to be protected under the sage‐grouse conservation umbrella and greater potential to be affected, either positively or negatively, by habitat management actions intended for sage‐grouse. Conversely, the remaining 8 species are less likely to be protected because of less overlap with sage‐grouse habitat and thus uncertain effects of sage‐grouse habitat management actions. Our analyses of treatment databases indicated that from 1990 to 2014 there were at least 6,400 treatments implemented on public land that covered approximately 4 million ha within the range of the sage‐grouse and, of that, >1.5 million ha were intended to at least partially benefit sage‐grouse. Whereas our results suggest that conservation of intact sagebrush vegetation communities could benefit ≥14 reptiles, a greater number than previously estimated, additional research on each species' response to habitat restoration actions is needed to assess broader claims of multi‐taxa benefits when it comes to manipulative sage‐grouse habitat management. Published 2020. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

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“…Here, we presented just five vegetation summary variables and diversity derived from presence/absence predictions for 51 plant taxa. Greater sage-grouse respond to vegetation at local and landscape spatial scales (Doherty et al 2010, Arkle et al 2014, and thus map performance across multiple scales merits consideration. New variables can be formulated, shown spatially, and assessed independently of the RFNN modeling and mapping process.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation mapping to support greater sage‐grouse habitat monitoring and management: multi‐ or univariate approach?

2019

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Conservation planning for wildlife species requires mapping and assessment of habitat suitability across broad areas, often relying on a diverse suite, or stack, of geospatial data presenting multidimensional controls on a species. Stacks of univariate, independently developed vegetation layers may not represent relationships between each variable that can be characterized by multivariate modeling techniques, leading to inaccurate inferences on the distribution of suitable habitat. In this paper, we examine the role of variable combining in mapping multiple dimensions of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus, GRSG) habitat as a basis for GRSG conservation in the great basin ecoregion within southeastern Oregon. We compare two modeling approaches: a univariate random forest regression model (RF regression) and a multivariate random forest nearest neighbor (RFNN) imputation model , across an array of variables. These include five GRSG habitat descriptor variables: percent cover of trees, juniper, sagebrush, and GRSG food forbs, and the proportion of grasses that are exotic annuals. We also model species distributions of 51 common species in the sage steppe and combine these predictions to estimate alpha diversity. Our results show that RF regression and RFNN can yield univariate predictions with similar performance, but RF regression predictions tend to contain slightly more bias at broader spatial scales. Stacking univariate predictions from RF regression yields covariance errors that manifest as logical errors (juniper cover > tree cover), biases in estimates of GRSG habitat area, and biases in estimates of alpha diversity. Combining variables from the RFNN model does not introduce covariance errors. We conclude that multivariate modeling approaches are better suited to map multidimensional habitat niches at broader spatial scales, and also better suited to provide information for defining multivariable adaptive management triggers at the population level or above.

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Quantifying restoration effectiveness using multi‐scale habitat models: implications for sage‐grouse in the Great Basin

Cited by 106 publications

References 51 publications

Nest-site selection and reproductive success of greater sage-grouse in a fire-affected habitat of northwestern Nevada

Nest-site selection and reproductive success of greater sage-grouse in a fire-affected habitat of northwestern Nevada

Reptiles Under the Conservation Umbrella of the Greater Sage‐Grouse

Vegetation mapping to support greater sage‐grouse habitat monitoring and management: multi‐ or univariate approach?

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