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White, Gary C

We estimated survival rates of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in North Park, Colorado, USA, from band-recovery data of 6,021 birds banded during spring, 1973-1990, with recoveries through 1993. Average annual adult female survival ((S) over bar = 0.59, SE = 0.011) was greater than average adult male survival ((S) over bar = 0.37, SE = 0.007), and average subadult (<1 yr old at time of banding) female survival ((S) over bar = 0.77, SE = 0.030) was greater than average subadult male survival ((S) over bar = 0.63, SE = 0.034). Four weather covariates (spring and winter precipitation and temperature) did not contribute to predicting annual survival. Published in Journal of Wildlife Management, volume...
We conducted a 2-year field experiment to determine whether archery and muzzleloading hunting seasons caused elk to move prematurely onto private land during late summer. The study site was divided into north and south areas, and each area received both an early- and late-opening treatment. Early-opening treatment was an archery season that opened 1 week earlier (23 Aug) than the historical opening, and late-opening treatment was an archery season that opened 2 weeks later (13 Sep), yielding a 21-day difference in opening dates. We relocated 80 radiocollared female elk, captured at random locations on summer ranges, approximately 2 times per week for a 3-month period surrounding early- and late-opening dates each...
We examined changes in small mammal habitat and densities of four small mammal species, including deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), gray-collared chipmunks (Tamias cinereicollis), golden-mantled ground squirrels (Spermophilus lateralis), and Mexican woodrats (Neotoma mexicana), 2?3 years after thinning and prescribed fire treatments in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests of northern Arizona, US. These treatments were designed to simultaneously reduce high-severity fire risk while returning forests to conditions more representative of pre-European settlement structure and function. Treatments resulted in changes in important components of small mammal habitat, including increased herbaceous vegetation, decreased...
Movement of Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) to private land in Colorado, USA, is problematic for population management because once on private land, elk are largely unavailable for harvest. We evaluated the relative effects of reducing hunter numbers and changes in opening dates of early-season hunting (archery) on elk movement to private land during a 4-year field experiment. Our study area was divided into north (NTA) and south (STA) treatment areas. Eighty adult female elk were captured and radiomarked during July 1996. From 1996 to 1999, we relocated radiomarked elk 2 times per week for a 2- to 3-month period surrounding archery season opening dates, and we classified each elk location as being on...
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With the decline of many lekking species, the need to develop a rigorous population estimation technique is critical for successful conservation and management. We employed mark?resight methods to estimate population size for 2 lekking species: greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus). We evaluated 2 different estimators: Bowden's estimator and the mixed logit-normal mark?resight model. We captured and marked 75 greater sage-grouse. We counted marked and unmarked birds as they attended 15 known leks. We used 36 and 37 marked Gunnison sage-grouse to estimate population size in 2003 and 2004, respectively. We observed marked and unmarked Gunnison sage-grouse daily...
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