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9/26/2018 | 10:40 AM - 10:55 AM | Present or Absent? What Does Multi-Scale Occupancy Modelling Reveal About Conservation Needs of Lesser Prairie-Chicken? | Eccles Conference Center Auditorium

Present or Absent? What Does Multi-Scale Occupancy Modelling Reveal About Conservation Needs of Lesser Prairie-Chicken?

The range-wide monitoring program for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus, LPCH) conducted by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies plays an important role in landscape conservation initiatives for the recovery of the species. Methodologies to evaluate prairie-chicken responses to habitat conditions and conservation practices are necessary to evaluate the success of these initiatives. We adapted the design of the range-wide monitoring program 2012-2016 and applied a multi-scale occupancy model based on 15-km × 15-km grid cells and 7.5-km × 7.5-km quadrants. The objectives were to 1) estimate occupancy of LPCH range-wide and within four ecoregions and 2) model probability of prairie-chicken occupancy as a function of covariates for habitat condition, conservation and other anthropogenic practices. We used model predictions to evaluate a priori hypotheses for covariate effects on site occupancy. We found strong positive relationships range-wide at both scales for shrubland land cover, Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land cover, and grassland patch size or land cover. Range-wide there was weaker evidence for negative effects of woodland and developed land cover. We continued the investigation of multi-scale covariate relationships within each of four ecoregions and present positive or negative effects for shrubland land cover, CRP patch size, grassland patch size, woodland land cover, cropland land cover, drought, and developed land cover. Finally, curvilinear effects in some ecoregions indicated an optimum probability of occupancy at intermediate values of grassland land cover, cropland patch size, shrubland land cover, and CRP patch size.

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Presenters/Authors

David Pavlacky (), Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, david.pavlacky@birdconservancy.org;