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This USGS data release represents geospatial data for the sage-grouse habitat mapping project. This study provides timely and highly useful information about greater sage-grouse over a large area of the Great Basin. USGS researchers and their colleagues created a template for combining landscape-scale occurrence or abundance data with habitat selection data in order to identify areas most critical to sustaining populations of species of conservation concern. The template also identifies those areas where land use changes have minimal impact. To inform greater sage-grouse conservation planning, the researchers developed greater sage-grouse habitat management categories based on habitat selection indices (HSI) and...
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April through May (spring) and August through September (fall) locations for tule greater white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons elgasi) marked with GPS collars at Summer Lake Wildlife Area, OR in 2018 and 2019. Locations may include pre-migration and post-migration designations. Locations occurring between September 11, 2020, and arrival at, or within 50 kilometers of the Summer Lake Wildlife Area stopover location also provided with elevation information and smoke concentrations derived from the experimental HRRR-Smoke model. Median predicted smoke concentrations extrapolated from ground level through 5,000 meters also provided. These data supports the following publication: Overton, C.T., Lorenz, A.A., James,...
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San Francisco Bay, California is considered a mercury-impaired watershed. Elevated concentrations of mercury are found in water and sediment as well as fish and estuarine birds. Sources of mercury to the watershed since 1845 include sediment-associated mercury from mercury mining, mercury losses from gold amalgamation activities in mines of the Sierra Nevada, aerial deposition of mercury from global and regional emissions to air, and the direct discharge of mercury to Bay waters associated with the urbanization and industrialization of the estuary. We assessed historical trends in mercury bioaccumulation by measuring mercury concentrations in feathers of the endangered California Ridgway’s rail (formerly California...
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These tables serve as input data for hierarchical models investigating interactions between raven density and Greater Sage-grouse nest success. Observations were recorded over an 11 year time period, spanning from 2009 through 2019. The model is run in JAGS via R, the code is publicly available via the U.S. Geological Survey's GitLab (O'Neil et al. 2023). We recommend not making any changes or edits to the tables unless the user is experienced with hierarchical modeling. References: O'Neil, S.T., Coates, P.S., Webster, S.C., Brussee, B.E., Dettenmaier, S.J., Tull, J.C., Jackson, P.J., Casazza, M.L., and Espinosa, S.P., 2023, Code for a hierarchical model of raven densities linked with sage-grouse nest survival...
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These data represent an annotated training data for machine learned life history classification of the daily activity of dabbling ducks (f. Anatidae sf. Anatinae) using hourly GPS data. Each row of data represents a single GPS location for one of 5 species of dabbling duck. Note: the machine learned model was developed to be general across sf. Anatinae and does not include specific reference to the species included. That information is obtainable from the point of contact upon request. Each data record contains unique identifiers for individual bird, individual date of locations for an individual bird, and for individual location. Each record contains spatial, temporal and associated habitat information. Each record...
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We used a hierarchical Bayesian modeling framework to estimate resource selection functions and survival for early and late brood-rearing stages of sage-grouse in relation to a broad suite of habitat characteristics evaluated at multiple spatial scales within the Great Basin from 2009 to 2019. Sage-grouse selected for greater perennial grass cover, higher relative elevations, and areas closer to springs and wet meadows during both early and late brood-rearing. Terrain characteristics, including heat load and aspect, were important in survival models, as was variation in shrub height. We also found strong evidence for higher survival for both early and late broods within previously burned areas, but survival within...
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Identifying migration routes and fall stopover sites of cinnamon teal (Spatula cyanoptera septentrionalium) can provide a spatial guide to management and conservation efforts, and address vulnerabilities in wetland networks that support migratory waterbirds. Using high spatio-temporal resolution GSM-GPS transmitters, we tracked the fall migration of 61 cinnamon teal across western North America over three years (2017-2019). We marked cinnamon teal primarily during spring/summer in important breeding and molting regions across seven states (California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Nevada). We assessed migration routes and timing, detected 261 fall stopover sites, and identified specific ecoregions...
These data include potential Yuma Ridgway’s rail (Rallus obsoletus yumanensis) habitat classified from concurrently occurring Landsat images taken during telemetry field studies of and call count surveys for Yuma Ridgway's rail in 2016.
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Technological advancements in Global Positioning System (GPS) telemetry markers allow almost real-time observation of waterfowl movements and habitat selection. Telemetry data on ducks marked with GPS transmitters can be used to evaluate performance of remote sensing data (for example, dynamic open-water maps produced by Point Blue Conservation Science) for classifying habitats that are flooded and available for waterfowl. Translating dynamic open-water maps to waterfowl-relevant habitat maps provides a major improvement for wildlife researchers and managers to assist in their assessments of the areas and habitats used by waterfowl as hydrologic conditions change, both temporally and spatially. Suitable habitat...
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We examined nest survival of Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) in relation to fine-scale habitat patterns that influenced nest site selection, using data from nests of telemetered females at 17 sites across 6 years in Nevada and northeastern California, USA. Importantly, sites spanned mesic and xeric average precipitation conditions and concomitant vegetation community structure across cold desert ecosystems of the North American Great Basin. Vegetative cover immediately surrounding sage-grouse nests was important for both nest site selection and nest survival, but responses varied between mesic and xeric sites. For example, while taller perennial grass was selected at xeric...
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Fragmentation and loss of natural habitat have important consequences for wild populations and can negatively affect long-term viability and resilience to environmental change. Salt marsh obligate species, such as those that occupy the San Francisco Bay Estuary in western North America, occupy already impaired habitats as result of human development and modifications and are highly susceptible to increased habitat loss and fragmentation due to global climate change. We examined the genetic variation of the California Ridgway’s rail ( Rallus obsoletus obsoletus), a state and federally endangered species that occurs within the fragmented salt marsh of the San Francisco Bay Estuary. We genotyped 107 rails across 11...
These datasets provide information on plant alpha, beta, and gamma diversity, and plant species abundance at several spatial scales for tidal wetlands along a salinity gradient in the San Francisco Bay-Delta and an impounded brackish wetland complex in Suisun Marsh, California. Files include diversity metrics calculated at the patch, site, and region scales, average percent cover of wetland dominant plants at the patch scale, and average percent cover of all wetland plants at the site scale. These data support the following paper: Jones, S.F., Janousek, C.N., Casazza, M.L., Takekawa, J.Y. and Thorne, K.M., 2021. Seasonal impoundment alters patterns of tidal wetland plant diversity across spatial scales. Ecosphere,...
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We evaluated brood-rearing habitat selection and brood survival of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) in Long Valley, California, an area where the water rights are primarily owned by the city of Los Angeles and water is used locally to irrigate for livestock. This area thus represents a unique balance between the needs of wildlife and people that could increasingly define future water management. In this study, sage-grouse broods moved closer to the edge of mesic areas and used more interior areas during the late brood-rearing period, selecting for greener areas after 1 July. Mesic areas were particularly important during dry years, with broods using areas farther interior than...
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Yuma Ridgway’s rail (Rallus obsoletus yumanensis, hereafter, "rail") are an endangered species for which patches of emergent marsh within the Salton Sea watershed comprise a substantial portion of habitat for the species’ disjointed range in the southwestern United States. These areas of emergent marsh include: 1) marshes managed by federal (particularly the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge (SBSSNWR), state (California Department of Fish and Wildlife), and local (Imperial Irrigation District) resource agencies that are sustained by direct deliveries of Colorado River water; and 2) unmanaged marshes sustained by agricultural drainage water. Management of rail habitat...
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Managers require quantitative yet tractable tools that can identify areas for restoration yielding effective benefits for targeted wildlife species and the ecosystems they inhabit. A spatially explicit conservation planning tool that guides effective sagebrush restoration for sage-grouse can be made more effective by integrating baseline maps describing existing (pre-restoration) habitat suitability, and the distribution and abundance of breeding sage-grouse. Accordingly, we provide two rasters. The first is a floating point raster file informed by lek data, and derived from: 1) utilization distributions weighted by lek attendance, and 2) a non-linear probability of space-use relative to distance to lek. The second...
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Step selection functions use animal movement patterns to estimate habitats available at each step along a movement track. These data were generated from four species of waterfowl (Anser albifrons [greater white-fronted goose], Anser caerulescens caerulescens [lesser snow goose], Anas platyrhynchos [mallard], Anas acuta [northern pintail]) using the Central Valley of California 2016 to 2022 that were fit with tracking devices collecting GPS data every hour (or subset to hourly locations). Observed movements were used to estimate a 2-mixture log-normal step length distribution for each species. The shorter mean step length mixture generally reflected step lengths consistent with individual immobility and GPS errors....
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Long-term environmental management to prevent waterfowl population declines is informed by ecology, movement behavior and habitat use patterns. Extrinsic factors such as human-induced disturbance can cause behavioral changes which may influence movement, and resource needs, driving variation that affects management efficacy. To better understand the relationship between human-based disturbance and animal movement and habitat use, and their potential effects on management, we GPS tracked 15 dabbling ducks in California over about 4-weeks before, during and after the start of a recreational hunting season in October and November 2018. We recorded locations at 2-minute intervals across three separate 24-hour tracking...
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Zoonotic diseases are of considerable concern to the human population and viruses such as avian influenza (AIV) threaten food security, wildlife conservation and human health. Wild waterfowl and the natural wetlands they use, are known AIV reservoirs, with birds capable of virus transmission to domestic poultry populations. While infection risk models have linked migration routes and AIV outbreaks, there is a limited understanding of wild waterfowl presence on commercial livestock facilities, and movement patterns linked to natural wetlands. In this dataset, records (rows) represent all analyzed locations of individual waterfowl relative to locations of commercial livestock facilities and habitats. Each row has...
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Rasters representing median raven density estimates, calculated from approximately 28,000 raven point count surveys conducted between 2009 and 2019. Estimates were the result of a Bayesian hierarchical distance sampling model, using environmental covariates on detection and abundance.
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These data describe coarse habitat use, activity information, and differences between used and available microhabitats and vegetation types to provide information about the behavior and habitat relationships of adult female giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) associated with a restored marsh in the Sacramento Valley of California. These data support the following publication: Brian J. Halstead, Patricia Valcarcel, Glenn D. Wylie, Peter S. Coates, Michael L. Casazza, and Daniel K. Rosenberg (2016) Active Season Microhabitat and Vegetation Selection by Giant Gartersnakes Associated with a Restored Marsh in California. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management: December 2016, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 397-407. https://doi.org/10.3996/042016-JFWM-029


map background search result map search result map Historical methyl mercury in San Francisco Bay Integrating Spatially Explicit Indices of Abundance and Habitat Quality: An Applied Example for Greater Sage-grouse Management A Century of Landscape Disturbance and Urbanization of the San Francisco Bay Region affects the Present-day Genetic Diversity of the California Ridgway’s Rail (Rallus obsoletus obsoletus) Microhabitat and Vegetation Selection by Giant Gartersnakes Associated with a Restored Marsh in California Data for: A conservation planning tool for greater sage-grouse using indices of species distribution, resilience, and resistance Impounded and tidal wetland plant diversity and composition across spatial scales, San Francisco Bay-Delta, California, USA (2016-2018) Classification of Waterfowl Habitat, and Quantification of Interannual Space Use and Movement Distance from Primary Roosts to Night Feeding Locations by Waterfowl in California for October - March of 2015 through 2018 Tule Greater White-fronted Goose Migration Tracks (2019-2020) and Atmospheric Smoke Concentrations (2020) Migration stopover ecology of cinnamon teal in western North America Waterfowl Disturbance in California and Nevada (2018) Selenium concentrations in Yuma Ridgway's Rails occupying managed and unmanaged emergent marshes at the Salton Sea Locations of Pacific Flyway Ducks in and near Commercial Livestock Facilities of the Western USA (2015-2021) Rail Potential Habitat, Salton Sea, California, 2016 Spatially-Explicit Predictive Maps of Greater Sage-Grouse Brood Selection Integrated with Brood Survival in Nevada and Northeastern California, USA Hourly GPS Locations, Associated Habitat Condition, and Annotated Life History State for Training Machine Learned Models of Waterfowl Daily Activity Selection and Survival of Greater Sage-Grouse Broods in Mesic Areas of Long Valley, California (2003 - 2018) Microhabitat Characteristics Influencing Sage-Grouse Nest Site Selection and Survival, Nevada and California (2012-2017) Median Estimates of Raven Density in California, Nevada, and Idaho (2012 - 2019) Raven Observations near Greater Sage-Grouse Nests in the Great Basin and Bi-State Regions of the Western United States (2009 - 2019) Movements, Used Habitats, and Available Habitats Identified using Step Selection Processes for Four Species of Waterfowl in California's Central Valley, 2016-2022 Microhabitat and Vegetation Selection by Giant Gartersnakes Associated with a Restored Marsh in California Selection and Survival of Greater Sage-Grouse Broods in Mesic Areas of Long Valley, California (2003 - 2018) Rail Potential Habitat, Salton Sea, California, 2016 A Century of Landscape Disturbance and Urbanization of the San Francisco Bay Region affects the Present-day Genetic Diversity of the California Ridgway’s Rail (Rallus obsoletus obsoletus) Selenium concentrations in Yuma Ridgway's Rails occupying managed and unmanaged emergent marshes at the Salton Sea Impounded and tidal wetland plant diversity and composition across spatial scales, San Francisco Bay-Delta, California, USA (2016-2018) Data for: A conservation planning tool for greater sage-grouse using indices of species distribution, resilience, and resistance Waterfowl Disturbance in California and Nevada (2018) Movements, Used Habitats, and Available Habitats Identified using Step Selection Processes for Four Species of Waterfowl in California's Central Valley, 2016-2022 Classification of Waterfowl Habitat, and Quantification of Interannual Space Use and Movement Distance from Primary Roosts to Night Feeding Locations by Waterfowl in California for October - March of 2015 through 2018 Integrating Spatially Explicit Indices of Abundance and Habitat Quality: An Applied Example for Greater Sage-grouse Management Median Estimates of Raven Density in California, Nevada, and Idaho (2012 - 2019) Spatially-Explicit Predictive Maps of Greater Sage-Grouse Brood Selection Integrated with Brood Survival in Nevada and Northeastern California, USA Microhabitat Characteristics Influencing Sage-Grouse Nest Site Selection and Survival, Nevada and California (2012-2017) Raven Observations near Greater Sage-Grouse Nests in the Great Basin and Bi-State Regions of the Western United States (2009 - 2019) Locations of Pacific Flyway Ducks in and near Commercial Livestock Facilities of the Western USA (2015-2021) Historical methyl mercury in San Francisco Bay Migration stopover ecology of cinnamon teal in western North America Tule Greater White-fronted Goose Migration Tracks (2019-2020) and Atmospheric Smoke Concentrations (2020) Hourly GPS Locations, Associated Habitat Condition, and Annotated Life History State for Training Machine Learned Models of Waterfowl Daily Activity