ECOLOGY OF ISOLATED INHABITING THE WILDCAT KNOLLS AND HORN

Transcription

1 ECOLOGY OF ISOLATED GREATER SAGE GROUSE GROUSE POPULATIONS INHABITING THE WILDCAT KNOLLS AND HORN MOUNTAIN, SOUTHCENTRAL UTAH by Christopher J. Perkins Committee: Dr. Terry Messmer, Dr. Frank Howe, and Dr. Jack Connelly

2 Presentation Outline: 1. Ecology of the greater sage grouse populations inhabiting the Wildcat Knolls and Horn Mountain, southcentral Utah 2. The impact of habitat fragmentation on small populations of greater sage grouse in central Utah 3. The evaluation of mitochondrial haplotype diversity among greater sage grouse populations inhabiting the Wildcat Knolls and Horn Mountain 4. Conclusions

3 ECOLOGY OF THE GREATER R SAGE GROUSE GROUS POPULATIONS ATIONSINHABITING ITING THE WILDCAT KNOLLS AND HORN MOUNTAIN

4 Justification In CaCoARM identified the Wildcat Knolls and Horn Mountain as areas of special concern Questions: 1. What was the seasonal distribution and habitat use on the Wildcat Knolls and Horn Mountain? 2. Brooding and nesting? 3. What were the limiting factors to sage grouse on the Wildcat Knolls and Horn Mountain?

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6 Study area Wildcat Knolls: 4,146.6ha Horn Mountain: 6,806.9 ha Both sites are managed by the USFS Elevation ranges from m Both sites can be characterized as mountains big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata spp. vaseyana) and black sagebrush (A. nova) communities Dominant land uses are cattle grazing from June September, and subsurface coal mining on the Wildcat Both sites are major wintering areas for big game from the Manti La Sal There is one main lek and several satellite leks within each site Both sites are used by grouse year round

7 Methods Lek Monitoring Trapping Radio telemetry and seasonal movements Nesting Nest site vegetation Brood monitoring Brood site vegetation Arthropod sampling Survival

8 Lek Monitoring Wildcat Historic Lek Counts No. ma ales Year Horn Mt. Historic Lek Counts No. males Year (Utah DWR 2009)

9 Trapping Methods Initial trapping began in January 2008 Sage grouse were located by spotlighting with binoculars and captured with a longhandled net Radio collar male and female grouse Results Wildcat: 19 (12 hens and 7 males) Horn Mt: 16 (9 hens and 7 males) Captured and collared 43 grouse

10 Seasonal Movements Methods Identify population type: Migratory or non migratory Spring, summer, fall and winter Lekking Breeding Re located birds at least once a week during the spring and summer, and 2 4 times in the fall and winter months Movement between sites Results Horn Mtn.: One stage migratory (14 16km) Wildcat Knolls: Non migratory No movement between sites Erratic lekking behavior on the Wildcat Knolls from (density dependence?)

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13 Methods Early May, radio collared hens were located every 3 4 days Estimated nest initiation dates using a 27 day incubation period with one day added for each egg in the nest Nesting Results 2009 Horn Mountain: 9 of 9 initiated 5 of 9 successful l(55%) Wildcat Knolls: 9 of 11 initiated (82%) 6 of 9 successful (66%) Nest predators appeared to be mostly coyotes, 2 raven, and potential red fox

14 Methods Nest Site Vegetation Shrub canopy cover: line intercept method along 15 meter line transects in four directions (total shrub canopy cover) Percent ground cover (grass and forbs): 20X50 cm Daubenmire frames every 3 meters Nest shrub height and width Nest grass height Visual obstruction between the nest and 4 meters from the nest: Robel pole placed on each transect to measure concealment at the nest Analysis Pooled and Satterwaite t test test for means using SAS 9.1 (2002)

15 Nest Site Vegetation Nest Site Comparisons Unsuccessful Robel in Robel out Forb cover Forb ht Grass cover Grassht Nest grass N Cover type Successful Shrub ht Shrub cover Sh Percent cover

16 Methods Broods were located 2 3/week Successful if one or more chicks survived 50 days Broods located at night with spotlights Broodless hens located once a week Results Wildcat Knolls: 5 of 6 (83%) were successful. 17 total chicks Horn Mountain: 1 of 5 (20%) brood hens raised 2 chicks past 50 days Brood Monitoring

17 Brood Site Vegetation Brood Site Comparisons eight cover and h Percent Shrub Cover Shrub Height Robel Forb Cover Forb Height Grass Cover Grass Height Successful Unsuccessful Cover type

18 Arthropod Sampling Methods After brood site vegetation was measured, 4 pitfall traps were placed flush with the ground along each transect at 10m and one in the center Traps were filled with water, and left open for 48 hrs Insects were divided in 5 categories to look at relative abundance: Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Orthoptera, and miscellaneous Results h l f ( ) f l The average volume of ants (Hymenoptera) was greater at successful brood sites (P = 0.04)

19 2008 Horn Mountain: No mortality of 5 total birds. = 100% adult survival Wildcat Knolls: Of 12 total birds, there were 4 Mortalities (1 hen, and 3 males) = 83% hen survival, and 50% male survival Female survival 35% 86%. (Connelly et al. 2000) Over all Horn Mountain: Female survival = 77% Male survival = 71% 2 mammalian (coyote, possible red fox) Wildcat Knolls: Female survival =64% Male survival = 55% 17 Red fox were trapped on the Wildcat last year All positively identified mortalities n=6 of 13 were caused by raptors (golden eagles) on the Wildcat Survival

20 Golden Eagle Nest sites 281 nest sites (UDWR 2008) 11 active 6 within close proximity (<24 km) of the Wildcat 3 within close proximity (<24km) of The Horn Eagles have been known to have multiple nest within one territory

21 Chapter 1 Conclusions Grouse on Horn Mountain are one stage migratory, and grouse on the Wildcat Knolls are non migratory No movement between site in 2 years Grass and shrub cover are critical nesting and brooding components Brood survival was much lower on the Horn Ants play a significant role in early brood survival Raptors (golden eagle), habitat, and adult survival Limitingfactor: brooding and nesting

22 THE IMPACT OF HABITAT FRAGMENTATION ON SMALL POPULATIONS OF GREATER SAGE GROUSE

23 Justification Of 26 Utah counties reported tdto contain sage grouse, only 5 occur within habitats that have stable populations > 500 breeding individuals (Utah DWR 2009) Methods Movements and indentify potential habitat Using ArcGIS 9.2 and NAIP 1 m photo imagery from the Utah AGRC, I heads up digitized habitat into 2 categories: potential nesting habitat (sagebrush), and non habitat (other woodland habitats) Monitor radio collared hens Nesting Distance to edge of successful and unsuccessful nest sites

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26 Nesting Results Wildcat Knolls: 12 nest 7 successful (58%). Horn Mountain: 10 nest 5 successful (50%).

27 Results Wildcat Distance to Edge Successful = 536.4m Unsuccessful = 163.4m A buffer of 163.4m was place around non habitat polygons.

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29 Results Horn Distance to Edge Successful = 195m Unsuccessful = 232m An average buffer of 213m was place around non habitat polygons

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31 Chapter 2 Conclusions Successful nest on the Wildcat were 3.5 times farther from non habitat edge than unsuccessful nest Habitat on Horn Mountain has more fragmentations and lower brood and nest success rates Habitat that falls within buffers did fall within suggested management guidelines, and should be managed carefully for nesting and brooding

32 THE EVALUATION OF MITOCHONDRIAL HAPLOTYPE DIVERSITY AMONG GREATER SAGE GROUSE POPULATIONS INHABITING THE WILDCAT KNOLLS AND HORN MOUNTAIN

33 Study Area Date released # of Hens # Males Capture location 7/30/ Diamond Mountain 7/8/ Emma Park 8/9/ Diamond Mountain 8/31/ Parker Mountain 4/10/ Emma and Whitemore Parks

34 Lek Monitoring Wildcat Historic Lek Counts No. males Year (Utah DWR 2009)

35 Justification Identify genetic diversity to aid managers in determining the need for translocations Methods Blood samples DNA extraction and amplification (PCR). Performed by the lab of Dr. Karen Mock here at USU Used mitochondrial haplotype sequences to compare DNA between studysites sites, and with populations throughout the state were sequences have been described Analysis MEGA (Tamura et al. 2007) software to compare sequenced haplotypes

36 Genetic background About 80 unique mitochondrial DNA haplotypes have been described by S.J. Oyler McCance 2005 In Utah 23 haplotypes have been described Most larger populations average between 6 10 haplotypes (Parker Mt. had eight types) Gunnison sage grouse there are 2 and 1 that is common

37 Results Blood Sampling 41 total samples were collected in on the Wildcat(10 female and 9 male) and 22 on the Horn (8f female and 14 male) l) Mitochondrial Analysis 5 mtdna haplotypes were identified of the 41 samples (DT, DW, DZ, DX, and B). DW, DZ, and DX were very similar to DT (1 2 base pairs different). DW was the most common on the Wildcat B is common though out the range All were found on the Wildcat Only DT was found on the Horn DT is common throughout Utah populations

38 Clade I 100 Gunnison Sage-grouse D DR DU GQ C.urophasianusis DX DZ DT DW GQ C.urophasianusis GQ C.urophasianusis EU Clade II B ER Blue Grouse 0.01

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41 Chapter 3 Conclusions 5 total haplotypes (n=41) found on the Wildcat, and only one shared on the Horn (n=22) Haplotype frequencies do show some similarity (DT), low diversity on Horn Mountain may be a result of isolation

42 Overall Conclusions Future Research Needs Shrub and grass cover in nesting and brooding birds (production) Predator management as it relates to adult survival Evaluate and monitor grouse response to habitat treatments Connectivity of key habitats Translocations? Local adaptation and out breeding depression (need birds with similar genetics) Continue collecting data among sites (genetic, behavior, and morphometric) Microsatellite test Research Conclusions Grouse onhorn Mountain are one stage migratory, andgrouse onthe Wildcat Knolls are non migratory Avoid future habitat alterations Grass and shrub cover are critical nesting and brooding components Horn Mountain shows low haplotype diversity (translocations)

43 Acknowledgements Ferron Ranger District SUFCO Mine

44 Acknowledgements Dr. Terry Messmer Committee members: Dr. Frank Howe and Dr. Jack Connelly Todd Black, Mike Guttery, and Mike Perkins Dr. Karen Mock and Mae Culumber Local biologist: Ferron Ranger District, and Wade Paskett UDWR Allgraduate students who helped: Roger Stringham, Eric Thacker, and Dave Dalghren Technicians: Bobby Boswell, Tamara Luke, and Armando Aispuro Family and parents My Wife