Nest Success of Gunnison Sage-Grouse in Colorado, USA

Gunnison Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus minimus) is a species of concern for which little demographic information exists. To help fill this information gap, we investigated factors affecting nest success in two populations of Gunnison Sage-Grouse. We assessed the relative effects of (1) vegetation charac...

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Published inPloS one Vol. 10; no. 8; p. e0136310
Main Authors Davis, Amy J, Phillips, Michael L, Doherty, Jr, Paul F
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Public Library of Science 19.08.2015
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects
Age
Animals
Breeding
Breeding seasons
Centrocercus minimus
Colorado
Demographics
Ecosystem
Endangered & extinct species
Female
Galliformes - physiology
Grasses
Grouse
Habitats
Hatches
Incubation
Models, Biological
Nesting
Nesting Behavior - physiology
Nests
Population Dynamics
Precipitation
Precipitation (Meteorology)
Seasons
Species
Studies
Vegetation
Wildlife conservation
Wildlife management
Colorado
Canada
United States > US
Idaho
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Summary:Gunnison Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus minimus) is a species of concern for which little demographic information exists. To help fill this information gap, we investigated factors affecting nest success in two populations of Gunnison Sage-Grouse. We assessed the relative effects of (1) vegetation characteristics (e.g., shrub height, shrub cover, grass cover, and grass height), (2) temporal factors (e.g., year, timing of incubation initiation, and nest age), (3) precipitation, and (4) age of the nesting female (yearling or adult) on nest success rates. We found 177 nests in the Gunnison Basin population (that contains 85-90% of the species) from 2005-2010 and 20 nests in the San Miguel population (that contains < 10% of the species) from 2007-2010. Temporal factors had the greatest impact on nest success compared to vegetation characteristics, precipitation, and female age. Nest success varied considerably among years ranging from 4.0%-60.2% in Gunnison Basin and from 12.9%- 51.9% in San Miguel. Nests that were initiated earlier in the breeding season had higher nest success (at least one egg hatches). Daily nest survival rates decreased during the course of incubation. None of the vegetation characteristics we examined were strongly related to nest success.
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Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Conceived and designed the experiments: AJD MLP PFD. Performed the experiments: AJD MLP. Analyzed the data: AJD. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AJD MLP PFD. Wrote the paper: AJD PFD MLP.
Current Address: United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States of America
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0136310