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

PLoS One. 2022 Apr 4;17(4):e0265316. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265316. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Conservation of Natural Resources
  • Ecosystem
  • Galliformes*
  • Humans
  • North America
  • Quail
  • Saskatchewan

Grants and funding

This research would not have been possible without funding and in-kind support from: the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment’s Fish and Wildlife Development Fund (CMS,RJF), SaskPower (CMS), MITACS scholarship to BB, Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment (BB), Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RJF), University of Regina (BB,CMS), and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant to CMS. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or prepare the manuscript.