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Spatially-Explicit Predictive Maps of Greater Sage-Grouse Brood Selection Integrated with Brood Survival in Nevada and Northeastern California, USA 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... Tags: Ecology, Geography, Great Basin, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Wildlife Biology, All tags... adaptive habitat selection, chick survival, ecological trap, ecosystems, fires, habitat functional response, human impacts, maladaptive habitat selection, native species, resource selection function, shrubland ecosystems, western United States, Fewer tags Microhabitat Characteristics Influencing Sage-Grouse Nest Site Selection and Survival, Nevada and California (2012-2017) 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... Categories: Data; Tags: California, Ecology, Nevada, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Wildlife Biology, All tags... biota, ecosystems, shrubland ecosystems, vegetation, western United States, Fewer tags Data Maps of Predicted Raven Density and Areas of Potential Impact to Nesting Sage-grouse within Sagebrush Ecosystems of the North American Great Basin These data represent predicted common raven (Corvus corax) density (ravens/square-km) derived from random forest models given field site unit-specific estimates of raven density that were obtained from hierarchical distance sampling models at 43 field site units within the Great Basin region, USA. Fifteen landscape-level predictors summarizing climate, vegetation, topography and anthropogenic footprint were used to predict average raven density at each unit. A raven density of greater than or equal to 0.40 ravens/square-km corresponds to below-average survival rates of sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) nests. We mapped areas which exceed this threshold within sage-grouse concentration areas to determine where... Tags: Birds, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, All tags... Sage-grouse, The Great Basin, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Utah, Wildlife, Wildlife Biology, biota, density, population and community ecology, raven, Fewer tags Selection and Survival of Greater Sage-Grouse Broods in Mesic Areas of Long Valley, California (2003 - 2018) 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... Categories: Data; Tags: Bistate, California, Ecology, Land Use Change, Long Valley, All tags... USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), United States of America, Water Resources, Wildlife Biology, biota, ecology, human impacts, land use change, native species, water resource management, water supply and demand, Fewer tags Greater Sage-Grouse Nest Observations Before and After Wildfire Disturbance in Northeastern California (2007-2018) We monitored Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, Sage-Grouse) nests and various habitat characteristics at the nest locations near Susanville in northeastern California, crossing over into northwestern Nevada. We employed a before-after-control-impact (BACI) experimental design to account for spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the system and to derive estimates of relative change in survival parameters. Sage-Grouse nest survival decreased after the Rush Fire but decreased more in the burned area relative to the unburned area. Although female Sage-Grouse continued to occupy burned areas, nest survival was reduced from 52 percent to 19 percent. Using a BACI ratio approach we found that nest survival... Categories: Data; Tags: California, Ecology, Environmental Health, Susanville, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), All tags... Western U.S., Wildlife Biology, biota, ecology, environment, fires, habitat alteration and disturbance, herbivores, human impacts, native species, shrubland ecosystems, Fewer tags Data from: Broad-scale occurrence of a subsidized avian predator: reducing impacts of ravens on sage-grouse and other sensitive prey Expanding human enterprise across remote environments impacts many wildlife species, including sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), an indicator species whose decline is at the center of national conservation strategies and land use policies. Anthropogenic resources provide subsidies for generalist predators, potentially leading to cascading effects on sensitive prey species at lower trophic levels. In semi-arid western ecosystems, common ravens (Corvus corax) are expanding in distribution and abundance, and may be negatively affecting sage-grouse reproductive success at broad spatial scales. Ravens are a common predator of sage-grouse nests, and potentially prey on chicks as well. This research aimed to address... Categories: Data; Tags: Great Basin, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Wildlife Biology, biota, geographic information systems (GIS), All tags... geospatial analysis, habitat alteration, human impacts, occupancy model, predator-prey interactions, sensitive prey, shrublands, wildlife, Fewer tags Spatially Explicit Estimates of Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) Survival, Recruitment, and Rate of Population Change in Nevada, 2013-2021 These data are the results of a spatially interpolated integrated population model (SIIPM) fit to count and demographic data collected from populations of Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) located in Nevada, U.S.A. during 2013-2021. We used a novel framework, using integrated population models (IPMs), to express demographic relatedness among sampled and unsampled populations using geographic principles of spatial autocorrelation (Shepard, 1968; Tobler, 1970). Specifically, the framework pairs relatively inexpensive population count data with spatially interpolated demographic estimates. When conducted within a Bayesian framework, spatially interpolated demographic parameters... Tags: Ecology, Nevada, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Wildlife Biology, biota, All tags... long-term ecological monitoring, native species, wildlife, Fewer tags Rasters Representing Greater Sage-grouse Space Use, Habitat Selection, and Survival to Inform Habitat Management We expanded developed methodology to incorporate habitat selection and survival during reproductive life stages and specific seasons with updated greater sage-grouse location and known fate datasets. We included brood-rearing areas that are understood to be threatened and important for population persistence. We combined predictive habitat map surfaces for each life stage and season with updated information on current occupancy patterns to classify habitat based on its suitability and probability of occupancy. We performed additional steps to delineate example habitat management areas, specifically: (1) incorporated corridors connecting key nesting and brood-rearing habitat; (2) corrected outputs for pre-wildfire... Tags: California, Ecology, Geography, Great Basin, Nevada, All tags... USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), United States of America, Wildlife Biology, biota, native species, shrubland ecosystems, wildlife, Fewer tags Geospatial Information and Predictive Maps of Greater Sage-grouse Habitat Selection in Southwestern North Dakota, USA We use locations from previously released radio-marked greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter sage-grouse) in a resource selection function framework to evaluate habitat selection following translocation and identify areas of seasonal habitat to inform habitat management and potential restoration needs. We also evaluate possible changes in seasonal habitat since the late 1980s using spatial data provided by the Rangeland Analysis Platform coupled with resource selection modeling results. Our results serve as critical baseline information for habitat used by translocated individuals across life stages in this study area, and will inform future evaluations of population performance and potential... Tags: Ecology, North Dakota, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Wildlife Biology, biota, All tags... brood, habitats, nest, resource Selection Function, sage-grouse, shrubland ecosystems, summer, Fewer tags Data to Support Hierarchical Models and Decision Support Maps to Guide Management of Subsidized Avian Predator Densities We combined approximately 28,000 raven point count surveys with data from more than 900 sage-grouse nests between 2009 and 2019 within the Great Basin, USA. We modeled variation in raven density using a Bayesian hierarchical distance sampling approach with environmental covariates on detection and abundance. Concurrently, we modeled sage-grouse nest survival using a hierarchical frailty model as a function of raven density as well as other environmental covariates that influence risk of failure. Raven density commonly exceeded more than 0.5 ravens per square kilometer and increased at low relative elevations with prevalent anthropogenic development and/or agriculture. Reduced sage-grouse nest survival was strongly... Tags: Anthropogenic subsidies, California, Ecology, Great Basin, Idaho, All tags... Nevada, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), bi-state, biota, conservation planning, decision support, density surface model, distance sampling, ecology, human impacts, native species, nest survival, population decline, predation, predator-prey, sagebrush, species distribution, species of concern, wildlife, Fewer tags Raven Occurrence and Density in the Great Basin Region of the Western United States (2007-2019) We generated a spatially explicit map of categories of expected occurrence and density associated with predicted concentrations of resident and transient common ravens (Corvus corax; ravens) using the residuals from a generalized linear regression between the occurrence and density parameters. These data support the following publication: Webster, S.C., O'Neil, S.T., Brussee, B.E., Coates, P.S., Jackson, P.J., Tull, J.C. and Delehanty, D.J., 2021. Spatial modeling of common raven density and occurrence helps guide landscape management within Great Basin sagebrush ecosystems. Human–Wildlife Interactions, 15(3), p.10. https://doi.org/10.26077/djza-3976. Categories: Data; Types: Downloadable, GeoTIFF, Map Service, Raster; Tags: California, Colorado, Great Basin, Idaho, Montana, All tags... Nevada, Oregon, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Utah, Wildlife Biology, Wyoming, biota, density, occurrence, predator-prey, space use, species distribution models, transients, wildlife, Fewer tags Median Estimates of Impact Potential from Geothermal Energy Production Activities on Greater Sage-Grouse Populations in Nevada and California (2022) These data are the result of an intersection between a surface representing the delta-finite rate of population change and another surface representing Greater Sage-grouse abundance and space-use. It was used to rank candidate sites according to greatest potential impact to Greater Sage-grouse populations resulting from the presence of geothermal energy activity. In 2022, candidate geothermal sites were identified in Nevada and eastern California, then buffered by 10 kilometers. While the extent of the overall raster layer encompasses a very large swath of the western US, data values are limited to fall within these 10 kilometer buffers. These data support the following publications: Coates, P.S., Prochazka, B.G.,... Categories: Data; Types: Downloadable, GeoTIFF, Map Service, Raster; Tags: California, Ecology, Great Basin, Nevada, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), All tags... Wildlife Biology, before-after-control-impact, biota, decision support tool, habitat alteration and disturbance, human impacts, land use change, native species, sagebrush ecosystem, shrubland ecosystems, state space model, survival analysis, western United States, Fewer tags Spatially-explicit Predictive Maps of Greater Sage-grouse Nest Selection Integrated with Nest Survival in Nevada and Northeastern California, USA We applied spatially-explicit models to a spatiotemporally robust dataset of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) nest locations and fates across wildfire-altered sagebrush ecosystems of the Great Basin ecoregion, western USA. Using sage-grouse as a focal species, we quantified scale-dependent factors driving nest site selection and nest survival across broad spatial scales in order to identify wildfire impacts and other environmental influences on variation in nesting productivity across a broad ecoregion spanning mesic and xeric shrub communities. To investigate the consequences of habitat selection and explore the potential for a source-sink reproductive landscape, we sought to classify nesting habitat... Tags: California, Great Basin, Nevada, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Western U.S., All tags... Wildlife Biology, biota, environment, geospatial analysis, habitat alteration, maladaptive habitat selection, nest survival, source-sink, Fewer tags Sagebrush Restoration Following Fire Disturbance in the Virginia Mountains, Nevada (2018) We developed a framework that strategically targets burned areas for restoration actions (e.g., seeding or planting sagebrush) that have the greatest potential to positively benefit Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter sage-grouse) populations through time. Specifically, we estimated sagebrush (Artemisia Spp.) recovery following wildfire and risk of non-native annual grass invasion under three scenarios: passive recovery, active restoration with seeding, and active restoration with seedling transplants. We then applied spatial predictions of integrated nest site selection and survival models before wildfire, immediately following wildfire, and at 30 and 50 years post-wildfire based on each restoration... Tags: Ecology, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Wildlife Biology, biota, fires, All tags... habitat alteration and disturbance, human impacts, native species, western U.S., Fewer tags