Greater sage-grouse habitat selection, survival, abundance, and space-use in the Bi-State Distinct Population Segment of California and Nevada

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereinafter sage-grouse) is a sagebrush obligate species and widely considered an indicator species for sagebrush ecosystems and other sagebrush-dependent species (Hanser and Knick, 2011; Prochazka and others, 2023). Sagebrush ecosystems are threatened by a wide range of disturbances and anthropogenic factors, including climate change, severe drought, altered wildfire regimes, expansion of invasive species, and anthropogenic development. Collectively, these threats have led to reduced ecological integrity and sage-grouse habitat quality within the sagebrush biome (Doherty and others, 2022). Steady and long-term declines in sage-grouse populations have led to large-scale efforts to improve population performance and prevent additional loss of habitat for sage-grouse and other sagebrush-dependent species (Coates and others, 2021). Due to their complex space use and habitat selection patterns during different life stages, requirements for large intact tracts of sagebrush, declining population trends, and status as a proposed protected species, sage-grouse have become integral to land management and conservation policy throughout the western United States (Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, 2015; Doherty and others, 2022).
References cited:
Coates, P.S., Prochazka, B.G., Aldridge, C.L., O’Donnell, M.S., Edmunds, D.R., Monroe, A.P., Hanser, S.E., Wiechman, L.A., and Chenaille, M.P., 2023, Range-wide population trend analysis for greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)-Updated 1960-2022: U.S. Geological Survey Data Report 1175, 17 p., accessed December 7, 2023, at [Available at https://doi.org/10.3133/dr1175.]
Doherty, K., Theobald, D.M., Bradford, J.B., Wiechman, L.A., Bedrosian, G., Boyd, C.S., Cahill, M., Coates, P.S., Creutzburg, M.K., Crist, M.R., Finn, S.P., Kumar, A.V., Littlefield, C.E., Maestas, J.D., Prentice, K.L., Prochazka, B.G., Remington, T.E., Sparklin, W.D., Tull, J.C., Wurtzebach, Z., and Zeller, K.A., 2022, A sagebrush conservation design to proactively restore America’s sagebrush biome: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2022-1081, 38 p., accessed December 6, 2023, at https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20221081.
Hanser, S.E., and Knick, S.T., 2011, Greater sage-grouse as an umbrella species for shrubland passerine birds-A multiscale assessment, chap. 19 in Knick, S.T., eds., Greater sage grouse-Ecology and conservation of a landscape species and its habitats: University of California Press, p. 474-487. [Available at https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520267114.003.0020.]
Prochazka, B.G., Coates, P.S., O’Donnell, M.S., Edmunds, D.R., Monroe, A.P., Ricca, M.A., Wann, G.T., Hanser, S.E., Wiechman, L.A., Doherty, K.E., Chenaille, M.P., and Aldridge, C.L., 2023, A targeted annual warning system developed for the conservation of a sagebrush indicator species: Ecological Indicators, v. 148. [Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.110097.]
Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, 2015, Greater sage-grouse population trends: an analysis of lek count databases 1965-2015: Cheyenne, Wyo., Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, 55 p., accessed 07 12, 2023, at https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/technical_reports/ng451p621

Tags: animal-behavior, bi-state, biota, california, demographic-response, ecology, greater-sage-grouse, habitat-selection, life-stages, native-species, nevada, reproduction, shrubland-ecosystems, survival, usgs-66464ba2d34e1955f5a434fc
Organization: Department of the Interior