A demographic analysis of lesser prairie-chicken populations in southwestern Kansas: Survival, population viability, and habitat use

Lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) habitat and populations have been reduced range-wide by more than 90% since the turn of 20th Century. Population indices in Kansas reflected the range-wide trends. The rate of habitat loss slowed considerably starting in the 1980s, but populations have continued to decline in the state. To aid in the conservation of this “warranted but precluded” threatened species, more information is needed on the basic and applied population ecology of this prairie grouse. The present research was initiated to collect field data for 3-years and synthesize 6-years of data from 2 Federal Aid projects in southwestern Kansas.; I used age-structured mark-recapture models to estimate the local survival rates of banded yearling and adult male lesser prairie-chickens from live mark-recapture data. Local survival rates of male lesser prairie-chickens were ranked: yearling (&phis;1 = 0.615, SE = 0.068) > adult (&phis;1 = 0.485, SE = 0.058) > older adults (&phis; 2 = 0.347, SE = 0.047). Using joint models of live encounter and dead recovery, I examined the potential for bias in survival estimates of radiomarked male lesser prairie-chickens. The model best supported by the data, Ŝ_c, p_group+t, r_g, F _c, indicated that survival was best modeled as not different (Ŝ_c = 0.731, SE = 0.072) across radiomarked and banded birds.; I evaluated the effects of season, age, and gender on survival of radiomarked birds. The known-fate analysis revealed that overall male (Ŝ = 0.71, SE = 0.06) and hen (Ŝ = 0.69, SE = 0.06) survival rates were similar, but hens were most susceptible to mortality during nesting. Additionally, yearling females had a greater probability (Ŝ = 0.77, SE = 0.06) of surviving than adults (Ŝ = 0.62, SE = 0.05).; Population viability and management alternatives were examined using elasticity analysis on an age-specific projection matrix. The model was parameterized with demographic data from this field study. The rate of population change (λ) was <1.0 for both populations (λI = 0.544, λ II = 0.754). This indicated a short-term decline in population growth in the absence of immigration. However, the marked contrast in the contributions to λ between populations were explained by nest success and chick survival, and prescribed management practices should focus on these rates.; I examined the relationship of several habitat characteristics and landscape features as they pertained to habitat suitability in southwestern Kansas. I quantified these characteristics in use and non-use sites as determined from the presence or absence of prairie chicken locations. Multivariate analyses indicated that site occupancy was explained, in part, by moderate densities of sagebrush, but negatively associated with the proximity to anthropogenic features (e.g., powerlines, roads, buildings, and pump jacks).