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Landscape-scale distribution and density of raptor populations wintering in anthropogenic-dominated desert landscapes

September 1, 2015

Anthropogenic development has great potential to affect fragile desert environments. Large-scale development of renewable energy infrastructure is planned for many desert ecosystems. Development plans should account for anthropogenic effects to distributions and abundance of rare or sensitive wildlife; however, baseline data on abundance and distribution of such wildlife are often lacking. We surveyed for predatory birds in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts of southern California, USA, in an area designated for protection under the “Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan”, to determine how these birds are distributed across the landscape and how this distribution is affected by existing development. We developed species-specific models of resight probability to adjust estimates of abundance and density of each individual common species. Second, we developed combined-species models of resight probability for common and rare species so that we could make use of sparse data on the latter. We determined that many common species, such as red-tailed hawks, loggerhead shrikes, and especially common ravens, are associated with human development and likely subsidized by human activity. Species-specific and combined-species models of resight probability performed similarly, although the former model type provided higher quality information. Comparing abundance estimates with past surveys in the Mojave Desert suggests numbers of predatory birds associated with human development have increased while other sensitive species not associated with development have decreased. This approach gave us information beyond what we would have collected by focusing either on common or rare species, thus it provides a low-cost framework for others conducting surveys in similar desert environments outside of California.

Publication Year 2015
Title Landscape-scale distribution and density of raptor populations wintering in anthropogenic-dominated desert landscapes
DOI 10.1007/s10531-015-0916-6
Authors Adam E. Duerr, Tricia A. Miller, Kerri L Cornell Duerr, Michael J. Lanzone, Amy Fesnock-Parker, Todd E. Katzner
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Biodiversity and Conservation
Index ID 70157377
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
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