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9/26/2018 | 9:35 AM - 9:50 AM | Landscape Connectivity for Lesser Prairie-Chickens on the Southern High Plains of the Texas and New Mexico | Eccles Conference Center Auditorium

Landscape Connectivity for Lesser Prairie-Chickens on the Southern High Plains of the Texas and New Mexico

The Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is a species of conservation concern on the Southern High Plains, where its habitat is currently a juxtaposition of grassland patches interspersed within large sections of agriculture and energy development. Fragmentation has isolated formerly contiguous habitat, suggesting that dispersal through a heterogeneous landscape may be constrained within a patch network. The objective of this study was to understand how connectivity for Lesser Prairie-Chickens on the Southern High Plains was potentially altered by landscape conversion that created a patch network. We used graph theory (network modeling) to quantify structural landscape connectivity for Lesser Prairie-Chickens on the Southern High Plains. Our results suggest that there was a 31.5 km coalescence distance of the network (farthest nearest-neighbor distance), as well as a suite of other connectivity metrics that indicated a high degree of clustering among leks (n = 115 leks). Two leks were identified as cutpoints within the network, meaning if these leks and associated habitat were fragmented or abandoned, birds and associated habitat near the remaining leks may become isolated. Other preliminary results identified several leks that were also important for maintaining overall population connectivity for Lesser Prairie-Chickens on the Southern High Plains. Future plans include modeling potential movement through the landscape using circuit theory to aid long-term conservation planning via identification of important existing patches.

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Presenters/Authors

Blake Grisham (), Texas Tech University, Blake.Grisham@ttu.edu;