The role of temperature and microclimate in the survival of wintering grassland birds

Denis J Pérez-Ordoñez,Erin H Strasser,Maureen D Correll,Fabiola Baeza-Tarin,Mieke Titulaer,Louis A Harveson,Russell L Martin

doi:10.5751/ace-02010-170101

Abstract

Pérez-Ordoñez, D. J., M. Titulaer, M. D. Correll, E. H. Strasser, F. Baeza-Tarin, R. L. Martin, and L. A. Harveson. 2022. The role of temperature and microclimate in the survival of wintering grassland birds. Avian Conservation and Ecology 17(1):1. https://doi.org/10.5751/ACE-02010-170101

Highlights

Populations of many grassland bird species, including 27 species of continental or regional importance for Partners in Flight (PIF) and/or the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), are undergoing steep, widespread and long-term population declines (Sauer et al 2008)
Many grassland bird species are of high conservation concern due to major population declines and continuing habitat loss and degradation over much of their range
More than 80% of grassland bird species breeding in western North America overwinter in the Chihuahuan Desert grasslands of southwestern USA and northern Mexico

Summary

Introduction

Populations of many grassland bird species, including 27 species of continental or regional importance for Partners in Flight (PIF) and/or the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), are undergoing steep, widespread and long-term population declines (Sauer et al 2008). The western Great Plains, from southern Alberta and Saskatchewan to southern New Mexico and western Texas, have the most extensive and intact native grasslands remaining in North America and support the most important breeding areas for the greatest number of grassland bird species (Figure 1A). Ninety percent of grasslandassociated (obligate and facultative) bird species breeding in the western Great Plains are migratory, and more than 90% of these overwinter in the Chihuahuan Desert of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, making this a continentally-important region for grassland birds (Figure 1B). Native grasslands in the Chihuahuan Desert are restricted in distribution, and while the current GIS (INEGI 2003) suggest that grasslands occupy roughly 15% of the Chihuahuan Desert (Bird Conservation Region 35) in Mexico, resolution among grassland condition is poor, and the actual extent of open, relatively shrub-free grasslands that are required by most grassland-obligate bird species is much less than this and probably closer to around 5%

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