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Columbian sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus) have experienced range-wide population declines, primarily as a result of habitat loss or degradation, and currently occupy <10% of their historical range. Expansion of wind-energy development across the current, occupied Columbian sharp-tailed grouse range is a potential threat to the subspecies. To assess the potential effects of wind-energy development on vital rates of Columbian sharp-tailed grouse offspring, we monitored 68 broods of radio-marked females captured at 11 leks in restored grasslands within 14 km of a 215-turbine wind-energy development complex in eastern Idaho, USA from 2014–2015. We assessed the influence of wind turbine density, habitat characteristics, brood-rearing female age, hatch date, and weather on brood success and chick survival using an information-theoretic model selection approach. Wind turbine density did not influence early (14-day) brood success, but there was weak evidence for a negative effect of wind turbine density on late (42-day) brood success. There was strong evidence that increasing turbine density within the late brood-rearing home range negatively affected chick survival to 42 days after hatch. The probability of an individual chick surviving to 42 days decreased by 50% when there were ≥10 wind turbines within 2,100m of the nest. Late brood success and chick survival increased with earlier hatch dates. There was weak evidence for positive effects of post-hatch precipitation on early brood success and chick survival and weak evidence that adult females had higher early brood success than yearlings. Habitat characteristics such as vegetation composition in restored grasslands were poor predictors of offspring survival. Multiple variables, including wind-energy development, are important to Columbian sharp-tailed grouse brood success and chick survival. Wildlife managers should consider the potential for negative impacts of wind-energy development on Columbian sharp-tailed grouse recruitment when addressing wind-energy siting and mitigation.

Effective long-term wildlife conservation planning for a species must be guided by information about population vital rates at multiple scales. Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) populations declined substantially during the twentieth century, largely as a result of habitat loss and fragmentation. In addition to the importance of conserving large tracts of suitable habitat, successful conservation of this species will require detailed information about factors affecting vital rates at both the population and range-wide scales. Research has shown that sage-grouse population growth rates are particularly sensitive to hen and chick survival rates. While considerable information on hen survival exists, there is limited information about chick survival at the population level, and currently there are no published reports of factors affecting chick survival across large spatial and temporal scales. We analyzed greater sage-grouse chick survival rates from 2 geographically distinct populations across 9 years. The effects of 3 groups of related landscape-scale covariates (climate, drought, and phenology of vegetation greenness) were evaluated. Models with phenological change in greenness (NDVI) performed poorly, possibly due to highly variable production of forbs and grasses being masked by sagebrush canopy. The top drought model resulted in substantial improvement in model fit relative to the base model and indicated that chick survival was negatively associated with winter drought. Our overall top model included effects of chick age, hen age, minimum temperature in May, and precipitation in July. Our results provide important insights into the possible effects of climate variability on sage-grouse chick survival.

Artificial nightlight is increasingly recognized as an important environmental disturbance that influences the habitats and fitness of numerous species. However, its effects on wide‐ranging vertebrates and their interactions remain unclear. Light pollution has the potential to amplify land‐use change, and as such, answering the question of how this sensory stimulant affects behavior and habitat use of species valued for their ecological roles and economic impacts is critical for conservation and land‐use planning. Here, we combined satellite‐derived estimates of light pollution, with GPS‐data from cougars Puma concolor (n = 56), mule deer Odocoileus hemionus (n = 263) and locations of cougar‐killed deer (n = 1562 carcasses), to assess the effects of light exposure on mammal behavior and predator–prey relationships across wildland–urban gradients in the southwestern United States. Our results indicate that deer used the anthropogenic environments to access forage and were more active at night than their wildland conspecifics. Despite higher nightlight levels, cougars killed deer at the wildland–urban interface, but hunted them in the relatively darkest locations. Light had the greatest effect of all covariates on where cougars killed deer at the wildland–urban interface. Both species exhibited functional responses to light pollution at fine scales; individual cougars and deer with less light exposure increasingly avoided illuminated areas when exposed to greater radiance, whereas deer living in the wildland–urban interface selected elevated light levels. We conclude that integrating estimates of light pollution into ecological studies provides crucial insights into how the dynamic human footprint can alter animal behavior and ecosystem function across spatial scales.

In this issue of Human-Wildlife Interactions, our authors provide keen, powerful insights based on global research involving human interactions with amphibians, bears, birds, canids, amphibians, and ungulates. Adult bison can weigh >900 kg and run >50 kph. [...]the U.S. National Park Service has recommended that visitors stay at least 20-25 m away from wild animals like bison and elk (Cervus canadensis) and 90 m away from bears (Ursus spp.) and other carnivores. Not understanding wild animal behavior, coupled with an inability to judge what constitutes a safe distance when using our smartphone to capture our wildlife encounter, can be a recipe for disaster.

As gray wolf (Canis lupus) populations have expanded in the western United States, wolf depredation of domestic livestock has increased. Concomitantly, wildlife managers are seeking management tools to mitigate wolf–livestock conflicts and enhance stakeholder support for conservation efforts. Range Rider Programs (RRPs) have emerged as a nonlethal management strategy that advocates the use of increased human surveillance of livestock herds in areas occupied by wolves to reduce wolf–livestock conflicts. However, little information is available about the scope of contemporary northern Rocky Mountain (NRM) RRPs or participant perceptions about the potential for the programs to mitigate these conflicts. We conducted semistructured phone and personal interviews with 51 participants from 17 RRPs in Montana, Oregon, and Washington during January to April 2014 and October 2014 to January 2015 to develop a typology of NRM RRPs and assess participant perceptions of current programs. Although the RRPs we studied varied in context, program focus, and scale, they shared similar organizational components that included a sponsor; collaboration among several organizations; a funding mechanism; a structure that included a supervisor, the landowner(s), and the range rider(s); and a mechanism for stakeholder feedback. We identified 3 unique RRP versions based on the primary focus of the programs: 1) livestock monitoring, 2) wolf surveillance, and 3) livestock herding. Although participants identified a number of benefits (e.g., increased information about wolf activity, extra herd supervision, rapid carcass identification), they also identified challenges that affected program sustainability. Challenges pertaining to trust and open communication were inherent in several programs; however, the lack of stable funding was viewed as a major threat to program sustainability. The final challenge to RRPs’ sustainability was the largely unproven success of this strategy.

Species of conservation concern are often habitat specialists, posing significant risk to those species when specific plant communities are threatened. As a result, practitioners habitually focus conservation efforts on these communities while ignoring ecological mechanisms that explain the wildlife–plant relationships. In doing so, practitioners may overlook alternative vegetation communities that could maintain wildlife populations under alternative conditions (e.g., climate change). Here, we term these areas surrogate habitat, defined as vegetation communities or resource sites that provide similar critical resources as conventional sites, and assess their potential for conservation using a case study of greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) on Parker Mountain, Utah (1998–2009). Sage‐grouse are a sagebrush‐obligate species and a species of conservation concern. Range‐wide conservation efforts have long emphasized management of seasonal habitats within semiarid sagebrush ecosystems, specifically management of mesic or wet meadow sites that provide brood‐rearing habitat required for population persistence. Despite this requirement, no conventional mesic habitat exists on Parker Mountain, yet it supports one of Utah's largest sage‐grouse populations. Rather, the Parker sagebrush system abuts quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) stands that may provide brood‐rearing habitat analogous to wet meadow sites. It is unclear, however, to what extent sage‐grouse use these aspen stands because sage‐grouse commonly avoid tall structures (e.g., trees) and their associated avian predators. Thus, we tested whether (1) sage‐grouse selected for surrogate habitat (i.e., aspen edge) and (2) selection behaviors related to surrogate habitat had demographic effects on the population. As we predicted, sage‐grouse selected for these areas, and the sage‐grouse that spent increased time closer to aspen edges did not experience increased mortality. Together, this demonstrates that the aspen–sagebrush edge provided a surrogate for the wet meadows used by other populations. More broadly, this suggests that conservation practitioners should move beyond simplistic wildlife–habitat associations toward a more holistic view of animal ecology focused on the wildlife–resource association, an approach that becomes particularly useful in areas where conventional obligate habitat may be degraded or lost. This work also implores us to examine alternative habitat potential rather than applying one‐size‐fits‐all models to threatened species conservation.

Livestock grazing affects over 60% of the world's agricultural lands and can influence rangeland ecosystem services and the quantity and quality of wildlife habitat, resulting in changes in biodiversity. Concomitantly, livestock grazing has the potential to be detrimental to some wildlife species while benefiting other rangeland organisms. Many imperiled grouse species require rangeland landscapes that exhibit diverse vegetation structure and composition to complete their life cycle. However, because of declining populations and reduced distributions, grouse are increasingly becoming a worldwide conservation concern. Grouse, as a suite of upland gamebirds, are often considered an umbrella species for other wildlife and thus used as indicators of rangeland health. With a projected increase in demand for livestock products, better information will be required to mitigate the anthropogenic effects of livestock grazing on rangeland biodiversity. To address this need, we completed a data‐driven and systematic review of the peer‐reviewed literature to determine the current knowledge of the effects of livestock grazing on grouse populations (i.e., chick production and population indices) worldwide. Our meta‐analysis revealed an overall negative effect of livestock grazing on grouse populations. Perhaps more importantly, we identified an information void regarding the effects of livestock grazing on the majority of grouse species. Additionally, the reported indirect effects of livestock grazing on grouse species were inconclusive and more reflective of differences in the experimental design of the available studies. Future studies designed to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of livestock grazing on wildlife should document (i) livestock type, (ii) timing and frequency of grazing, (iii) duration, and (iv) stocking rate. Much of this information was lacking in the available published studies we reviewed, but is essential when making comparisons between different livestock grazing management practices and their potential impacts on rangeland biodiversity. We conducted a data‐driven and systematic review of the peer‐reviewed literature to determine the state of knowledge on the effects of livestock grazing on grouse populations worldwide. Our meta‐analysis revealed that livestock grazing has an overall negative effect on grouse populations. However, there were few studies available, suggesting that additional well designed studies of the effects of livestock grazing on wildlife populations are needed.

Anthropogenic infrastructure can negatively affect wildlife through direct mortality and/or displacement behaviors. Some tetranoids (grouse spp.) species are particularly vulnerable to tall anthropogenic structures because they evolved in ecosystems void of vertical structures. In western North America, electric power transmission and distribution lines (power lines) occur in sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) landscapes within the range of the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended using buffer zones near leks to mitigate the potential impacts of power lines on sage-grouse. However, recommended buffer distances are inconsistent across state and federal agencies because data are lacking. To address this, we evaluated the effects of power lines on sage-grouse breeding ecology within Utah, portions of southeastern Idaho, and southwestern Wyoming from 1998-2013. Overall, power lines negatively affected lek trends up to a distance of 2.7 and 2.8 km, respectively. Power lines died not affect lek persistence. Female sage-grouse avoided transmission lines during the nesting and brooding seasons at distances up to 1.1 and 0.8 km, respectively. Nest and brood success were negatively affected by transmission lines up to distances of 2.6 and 1.1 km, respectively. Distribution lines did not appear to affect sage-grouse habitat selection or reproductive fitness. Our analyses demonstrated the value of sagebrush cover in mitigating potential power line impacts. Managers can minimize the effects of new transmission power lines by placing them in existing anthropogenic corridors and/or incorporating buffers at least 2.8 km from active leks. Given the uncertainty we observed in our analyses regarding sage-grouse response to distribution lines coupled with their role in providing electric power service directly to individual consumers, we recommend that buffers for these power lines be considered on a case-by-case basis. Micrositing to avoid important habitats and habitat reclamation may reduce the potential impacts of new power line construction.