Cargando…
Better living through conifer removal: A demographic analysis of sage-grouse vital rates
Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) obligate wildlife species such as the imperiled greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) face numerous threats including altered ecosystem processes that have led to conifer expansion into shrub-steppe. Conifer removal is accelerating despite a lack of empirical evi...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2017
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5363946/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28333995 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174347 |
_version_ | 1782517240087707648 |
---|---|
author | Severson, John P. Hagen, Christian A. Tack, Jason D. Maestas, Jeremy D. Naugle, David E. Forbes, James T. Reese, Kerry P. |
author_facet | Severson, John P. Hagen, Christian A. Tack, Jason D. Maestas, Jeremy D. Naugle, David E. Forbes, James T. Reese, Kerry P. |
author_sort | Severson, John P. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) obligate wildlife species such as the imperiled greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) face numerous threats including altered ecosystem processes that have led to conifer expansion into shrub-steppe. Conifer removal is accelerating despite a lack of empirical evidence on grouse population response. Using a before-after-control-impact design at the landscape scale, we evaluated effects of conifer removal on two important demographic parameters, annual survival of females and nest survival, by monitoring 219 female sage-grouse and 225 nests in the northern Great Basin from 2010 to 2014. Estimates from the best treatment models showed positive trends in the treatment area relative to the control area resulting in an increase of 6.6% annual female survival and 18.8% nest survival relative to the control area by 2014. Using stochastic simulations of our estimates and published demographics, we estimated a 25% increase in the population growth rate in the treatment area relative to the control area. This is the first study to link sage-grouse demographics with conifer removal and supports recommendations to actively manage conifer expansion for sage-grouse conservation. Sage-grouse have become a primary catalyst for conservation funding to address conifer expansion in the West, and these findings have important implications for other ecosystem services being generated on the wings of species conservation. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5363946 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-53639462017-04-06 Better living through conifer removal: A demographic analysis of sage-grouse vital rates Severson, John P. Hagen, Christian A. Tack, Jason D. Maestas, Jeremy D. Naugle, David E. Forbes, James T. Reese, Kerry P. PLoS One Research Article Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) obligate wildlife species such as the imperiled greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) face numerous threats including altered ecosystem processes that have led to conifer expansion into shrub-steppe. Conifer removal is accelerating despite a lack of empirical evidence on grouse population response. Using a before-after-control-impact design at the landscape scale, we evaluated effects of conifer removal on two important demographic parameters, annual survival of females and nest survival, by monitoring 219 female sage-grouse and 225 nests in the northern Great Basin from 2010 to 2014. Estimates from the best treatment models showed positive trends in the treatment area relative to the control area resulting in an increase of 6.6% annual female survival and 18.8% nest survival relative to the control area by 2014. Using stochastic simulations of our estimates and published demographics, we estimated a 25% increase in the population growth rate in the treatment area relative to the control area. This is the first study to link sage-grouse demographics with conifer removal and supports recommendations to actively manage conifer expansion for sage-grouse conservation. Sage-grouse have become a primary catalyst for conservation funding to address conifer expansion in the West, and these findings have important implications for other ecosystem services being generated on the wings of species conservation. Public Library of Science 2017-03-23 /pmc/articles/PMC5363946/ /pubmed/28333995 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174347 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) public domain dedication. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Severson, John P. Hagen, Christian A. Tack, Jason D. Maestas, Jeremy D. Naugle, David E. Forbes, James T. Reese, Kerry P. Better living through conifer removal: A demographic analysis of sage-grouse vital rates |
title | Better living through conifer removal: A demographic analysis of sage-grouse vital rates |
title_full | Better living through conifer removal: A demographic analysis of sage-grouse vital rates |
title_fullStr | Better living through conifer removal: A demographic analysis of sage-grouse vital rates |
title_full_unstemmed | Better living through conifer removal: A demographic analysis of sage-grouse vital rates |
title_short | Better living through conifer removal: A demographic analysis of sage-grouse vital rates |
title_sort | better living through conifer removal: a demographic analysis of sage-grouse vital rates |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5363946/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28333995 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174347 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT seversonjohnp betterlivingthroughconiferremovalademographicanalysisofsagegrousevitalrates AT hagenchristiana betterlivingthroughconiferremovalademographicanalysisofsagegrousevitalrates AT tackjasond betterlivingthroughconiferremovalademographicanalysisofsagegrousevitalrates AT maestasjeremyd betterlivingthroughconiferremovalademographicanalysisofsagegrousevitalrates AT naugledavide betterlivingthroughconiferremovalademographicanalysisofsagegrousevitalrates AT forbesjamest betterlivingthroughconiferremovalademographicanalysisofsagegrousevitalrates AT reesekerryp betterlivingthroughconiferremovalademographicanalysisofsagegrousevitalrates |