Oyler, S.J., Braun, C.E. & Burnham, K.P. 1997: Use of a habitat-based model to predict sage grouse Centrocercus urophasianus occupancy of patches in southwestern Colorado. - Wildl. Biol. 3: 282.
Sage grouse Centrocercus urophasianus habitat is continually becoming degraded and fragmented, and much of it has been lost as sagebrush Artemisia spp. steppe is converted into other land uses. The goal of this study was to develop a habitat-based model which could be used to predict sage grouse occupancy based on habitat and landscape level characteristics. Habitat and landscape level data were collected from 25 sagebrush patches in southwestern Colorado. Occupancy of each patch was determined by sighting sage grouse directly or observing sage grouse droppings. Several parsimonious models were developed to predict sage grouse occupancy without overfitting the data. The Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) corrected for small sample sizes was used to select the best model from our list of candidate models. The best model to make inferences from the data includes patch area, distance to the nearest paved road, and the percentage of all brush that was live sagebrush. This model is useful for the conservation of Gunnison sage grouse C. minimus as it can be used to rank existing sagebrush patches, identify habitat or landscape characteristics which might be manipulated to increase the probability of sage grouse occupancy, and evaluate potential reintroduction sites.
Key words: Artemisia, Centrocercus minimus, Centrocercus urophasianus, Colorado, habitat model, sagebrush, sage grouse
Sara J. Oyler, Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA
Clait E. Braun, Colorado Division of Wildlife, 317 West Prospect Road, Fort Collins, Colorado 80526, USA
Kenneth P. Burnham, Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA