A large-scale perspective for managing prairie avifauna assemblages across the western US: influences of habitat, land ownership and latitude.

Victoria J Dreitz,Paul M Lukacs,Beth A Hahn,Lani T Stinson,Jason D Tack

doi:10.7717/peerj.2879

Abstract

Future demands for increased food production are expected to have severe impacts on prairie biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. Prairie avifauna of North America have experienced drastic population declines, prompting numerous conservation efforts, which have been informed primarily by small-scale studies. We applied a large-scale perspective that integrates scale dependency in avian responses by analyzing observations of 20 prairie bird species (17 grassland obligates and three sagebrush obligate species) from 2009–2012 in the western prairie region of the United States. We employed a multi-species model approach to examine the relationship of land ownership, habitat, and latitude to landscape-scale species richness. Our findings suggest that patterns and processes influencing avian assemblages at the focal-scale (e.g., inference at the sampling unit) may not function at the landscape-scale (e.g., inference amongst sampling units). Individual species responses to land ownership, habitat and latitude were highly variable. The broad spatial extent of our study demonstrates the need to include lands in private ownership to assess biodiversity and the importance of maintaining habitat diversity to support avian assemblages. Lastly, focal-scale information can document species presence within a study area, but landscape-scale information provides an essential complement to inform conservation actions and policies by placing local biodiversity in the context of an entire region, landscape or ecosystem.

Highlights

Global loss of biological diversity is occurring at unprecedented rates across numerous taxa and habitats with serious repercussions for ecosystem health and human well-being
This landscape is comprised of seven western US states and six Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs)—distinct ecological regions with similar biotic and abiotic characteristics and natural resource management issues (US North American Bird Conservation Initiative (US NACBI), 2000)
Management of the lands within the study area is by private landowners (51.6%), US Department of Interior—Bureau of Land Management (BLM; 22.2%) and other federal agencies (e.g., US Department of Agriculture—Forest Service (USFS; 16.5%)), Native American tribes (2.8%), and US states’ management agencies (3.1%; Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Global loss of biological diversity is occurring at unprecedented rates across numerous taxa and habitats with serious repercussions for ecosystem health and human well-being. Over the last two centuries, replacement of native grazers with domestic livestock, fire suppression, agricultural expansion, and infrastructure development have profoundly impacted North American prairies. These impacts influence ecological processes and functions important to wildlife, such as resource selection, community interactions and reproductive performance (Samson & Knopf, 1994), resulting in declines in species diversity and ecosystem health. Patterns of biodiversity on private prairie lands are relevant to conservation planning and policy-making decisions, as a growing global demand for food production will disproportionately be met in privately-owned prairie landscapes

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Results

Conclusion