Lek habitat suitability for the sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus jamesi) on the Northern Great Plains

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 17; no. 4; p. e0265316
• Main Authors: Burda, Brandon, Somers, Christopher M, Conkin, Katherine, Fisher, Ryan J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 04.04.2022; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animals; Biology; Biology and Life Sciences; Birds; Conservation; Conservation of Natural Resources; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Ecosystem; Environmental aspects; Females; Galliformes; Grasslands; Grouse; Habitat (Ecology); Habitat loss; Habitats; Human impact; Humans; Lek; Life history; Males; North America; Permutations; Physical Sciences; Polls & surveys; Population decline; Quail; Saskatchewan; Scale (ratio); Social Sciences; Vegetation; Wildfowl; North America; Saskatchewan; Canada; Saskatchewan Canada; Great Plains
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265316

Grassland birds in North America face many problems as a result of habitat loss and fragmentation; understanding their habitat requirements is critical for their conservation and management. The sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) can be found throughout North American grasslands and is a species of economic and cultural importance, but it has experienced population declines over the last few decades. A large part of sharp-tailed grouse life history is focused on and around lekking grounds, which makes leks an essential feature for sharp-tailed grouse management. We used information from 596 leks and landcover predictors within 1-km and 5-km squares to perform Habitat Suitability Index modeling for sharp-tailed grouse on the Northern Great Plains in Saskatchewan, Canada. The proportion of grasslands at the 5-km scale and the 1-km scale were the two most important factors affecting lek occurrence (permutation importance = 34.8% and 26.9%, respectively). In every case, the 5-km scale predictors were ranked as having a more significant influence on lek occurrence than the 1-km scale. Other factors of importance included topographic roughness (9.7% permutation importance), and the proportion of human disturbance at the 5-km scale (5% permutation importance). Our study highlights the importance of large patches of grassland to support the occurrence of sharp-tailed grouse leks, and that a diverse set of habitat features are needed for sharp-tailed grouse management.