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Peter Coates

Dr. Peter Coates is a Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Western Ecological Research Center.

He is interested in sound science and management practices aimed at restoring wildlife communities and their habitats. He is committed to progressive, scientifically defensible conservation actions in the face of increasing human population size and individual consumption. Abundance and distribution of wild populations often can be linked to changes in their environments caused by human land use practices, but identifying the ecological mechanisms of declining populations are often challenging. Specifically, Dr. Coates is interested in investigating the links between nesting habitat, predator composition, and incubation behavior and success of birds. Additionally, he is interested in the effects of anthropogenic-resource subsidies on the survival and reproduction of predators and how these changes influence demographics and distribution of prey populations. Dr. Coates seeks to develop a broader understanding of how human-caused landscape changes affect communities and aim to identify restoration practices that preserve natural ecological processes. He is also interested in behavioral traits of grouse that affect population establishment and persistence in the face of environmental challenges.
 


 

Professional Experience

  • Wildlife Biologist, U. S. Geological Survey, 2008–present

  • Postdoctoral Appointment, Idaho State University, 2008

  • Seasonal Wildlife Biologist, Wildlife Conservation Society, 2007

  • Graduate Research Assistantship, Idaho State University, 2002–2007

  • Teaching Assistantship, Idaho State University, 2004–2007

  • National Science Foundation GK–12 Teaching F, Idaho State University, 2005–2006

  • Seasonal Biological Specialist, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 2003–2005

  • Field Research Technician, University of Nevada Reno, 1999

  • Conservation Biological Technician I, II, and III, Nevada Department of Wildlife, 1996–1998

Education and Certifications

  • Ph. D., Biology, Idaho State University 2007

  • M. S., Biology, University of Nevada Reno 2001

  • B. S., Conservation Biology, University of Nevada Reno 1998

Affiliations and Memberships*

  • American Ornithologists Union

  • Cooper Ornithological Society

  • Jack H. Berryman Institute

  • Society for Conservation Biology

  • The Wildlife Society

Science and Products

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Color photo of sagebrush with a rainbow in the background

Assessing the Effectiveness of Fuel Breaks for Preserving Greater Sage-Grouse in the Great Basin

Fuel breaks have the potential to minimize catastrophic losses of sagebrush habitat and sage-grouse populations by altering fire behavior and facilitating fire suppression. However, they may carry risks to sage-grouse populations—of habitat loss, fragmentation, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) invasion, and alteration of sage-grouse movements—that have not been quantified.
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Land Management Research Program, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Fort Collins Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)
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Assessing the Effectiveness of Fuel Breaks for Preserving Greater Sage-Grouse in the Great Basin

Fuel breaks have the potential to minimize catastrophic losses of sagebrush habitat and sage-grouse populations by altering fire behavior and facilitating fire suppression. However, they may carry risks to sage-grouse populations—of habitat loss, fragmentation, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) invasion, and alteration of sage-grouse movements—that have not been quantified.
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WERC Fire

WERC Fire Science

WERC scientists are defining the past, present, and future of wildfires for wildlife and human communities. Explore this webpage to learn about specific, ongoing projects across California and parts of Nevada.
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)
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WERC Fire Science

WERC scientists are defining the past, present, and future of wildfires for wildlife and human communities. Explore this webpage to learn about specific, ongoing projects across California and parts of Nevada.
Learn More
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The greater sage grouse thrives in the sagebrush landscape of the West.

Greater Sage-Grouse Science (2015–17): Synthesis and Potential Management Implications

USGS led an interagency team of Federal and State agency biologists to develop a report that synthesizes greater sage-grouse scientific literature.
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Land Management Research Program, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Fort Collins Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)
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Greater Sage-Grouse Science (2015–17): Synthesis and Potential Management Implications

USGS led an interagency team of Federal and State agency biologists to develop a report that synthesizes greater sage-grouse scientific literature.
Learn More
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Greater Sage-grouse

Greater Sage-Grouse Population Ecology

Greater Sage-grouse are iconic birds found only in the Great Basin of the western U.S. Known for their showy courting displays, sage-grouse rely on native sagebrush habitat to shelter their young. Dr. Pete Coates is providing resource managers with the tools and information they need to conserve sage-grouse as invasive plants, evolving wildfire patterns, and energy development change the Great...
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)
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Greater Sage-Grouse Population Ecology

Greater Sage-grouse are iconic birds found only in the Great Basin of the western U.S. Known for their showy courting displays, sage-grouse rely on native sagebrush habitat to shelter their young. Dr. Pete Coates is providing resource managers with the tools and information they need to conserve sage-grouse as invasive plants, evolving wildfire patterns, and energy development change the Great...
Learn More
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Image: Greater Sage Grouse

Stressors to Greater Sage-Grouse

The Greater Sage-grouse is a small bird found only in the sagebrush steppe of the Great Basin. Invasions of non-native grasses, evolving wildfire patterns, grazing from livestock, and human land uses are changing this unique ecosystem. WERC’s Dr. Pete Coates studies sage-grouse populations to determine how these influences could affect the bird and other wildlife in the future.
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program, Land Management Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)
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Stressors to Greater Sage-Grouse

The Greater Sage-grouse is a small bird found only in the sagebrush steppe of the Great Basin. Invasions of non-native grasses, evolving wildfire patterns, grazing from livestock, and human land uses are changing this unique ecosystem. WERC’s Dr. Pete Coates studies sage-grouse populations to determine how these influences could affect the bird and other wildlife in the future.
Learn More
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NPS photo of a Black-Crowned Night Heron

Reproductive Success of Black-Crowned Night-Herons and Snowy Egrets on Alcatraz Island

Years after the last inmate departed Alcatraz Island, waterbirds like Black-crowned Night Herons and Snowy Egrets still make the forbidding island their home. The National Park Service has requested the aid of WERC’s Dr. Pete Coates to inform efforts to expand visitor access to the Island, and simultaneously maintain healthy waterbird populations.
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)
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Reproductive Success of Black-Crowned Night-Herons and Snowy Egrets on Alcatraz Island

Years after the last inmate departed Alcatraz Island, waterbirds like Black-crowned Night Herons and Snowy Egrets still make the forbidding island their home. The National Park Service has requested the aid of WERC’s Dr. Pete Coates to inform efforts to expand visitor access to the Island, and simultaneously maintain healthy waterbird populations.
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Photo of waterbirds feeding at a flooded agricultural field.

Dixon Field Station

WERC scientists at the Dixon Field Station conduct studies from the San Francisco Bay-Delta in California to the Great Basin spanning California and Nevada.
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)
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Dixon Field Station

WERC scientists at the Dixon Field Station conduct studies from the San Francisco Bay-Delta in California to the Great Basin spanning California and Nevada.
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Greater sage-grouse in Wyoming.

Hierarchical Sage-Grouse Population Assessment Tool: Building a Foundation for True Adaptive Management

USGS scientists and colleagues have designed a hierarchical monitoring framework for greater sage-grouse in Nevada, Wyoming, and northeastern California that will provide land managers with a monitoring and detection system to identify sage-grouse breeding locations (known as leks), clusters of leks, and populations where intervention may be necessary to sustain populations and to evaluate...
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Land Management Research Program, Fort Collins Science Center
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Hierarchical Sage-Grouse Population Assessment Tool: Building a Foundation for True Adaptive Management

USGS scientists and colleagues have designed a hierarchical monitoring framework for greater sage-grouse in Nevada, Wyoming, and northeastern California that will provide land managers with a monitoring and detection system to identify sage-grouse breeding locations (known as leks), clusters of leks, and populations where intervention may be necessary to sustain populations and to evaluate...
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Sagebrush on fire in a controlled burn

Field of Sagebrush Dreams: Sage-grouse Responses to Burns and Sagebrush Restoration in Fire-Impacted Landscapes

Fire can reduce sage-grouse habitat, diminish local and regional population sizes, and result in the fragmentation of sage-grouse populations. Research is needed to identify the best ways to restore sagebrush to support sage-grouse demography, persistence, and space use.
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Land Management Research Program, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Fort Collins Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)
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Field of Sagebrush Dreams: Sage-grouse Responses to Burns and Sagebrush Restoration in Fire-Impacted Landscapes

Fire can reduce sage-grouse habitat, diminish local and regional population sizes, and result in the fragmentation of sage-grouse populations. Research is needed to identify the best ways to restore sagebrush to support sage-grouse demography, persistence, and space use.
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Predictive Maps of Fuel Break Effectiveness by Treatment Type and Underlying Resilience to Disturbance and Resistance to Invasion Across the Western U.S.

Escalated wildfire activity within the western U.S. has widespread societal impacts and long-term consequences for the imperiled sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) biome. Shifts from historical fire regimes and the interplay between frequent disturbance and invasive annual grasses may initiate permanent state transitions as wildfire frequency outpaces sagebrush communities' innate capacity to recover. The
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Genotypes and cluster definitions for a range-wide greater sage-grouse dataset collected 2005-2017 (ver 1.1, January 2023)

Monitoring change in genetic diversity in wildlife populations across multiple scales could facilitate prioritization of conservation efforts. We used microsatellite genotypes from 7,080 previously collected genetic samples from across the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) range to develop a modelling framework for estimating genetic diversity within a recently developed hierarchical
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Fort Collins Science Center

Greater sage-grouse genetic warning system, western United States (ver 1.1, January 2023)

Genetic variation is a well-known indicator of population fitness yet is not typically included in monitoring programs for sensitive species. Additionally, most programs monitor populations at one scale, which can lead to potential mismatches with ecological processes critical to species’ conservation. Recently developed methods generating hierarchically nested population units (i.e., clusters of
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Fort Collins Science Center

Influence of microhabitat characteristics on sage-grouse nest site selection and nest survival depends on ecological site potential

We examined nest survival of Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) in relation to fine-scale habitat patterns that influenced nest site selection, using data from nests of telemetered females at 17 sites across 6 years in Nevada and northeastern California, USA. Importantly, sites spanned mesic and xeric average precipitation conditions and concomitant vegetation
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Trends and a Targeted Annual Warning System for Greater Sage-Grouse in the Western United States (ver. 2.0, May 2023)

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are at the center of state and national land use policies largely because of their unique life-history traits as an ecological indicator for health of sagebrush ecosystems. These data represent an updated population trend analysis and Targeted Annual Warning System (TAWS) for state and federal land and wildlife managers to use best-available science
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

U.S. range-wide spatial prediction layers of lek persistence probabilities for greater sage-grouse

This dataset contains two predictive lek (breeding site) persistence raster layers covering the U.S. greater sage-grouse distribution. In the United States, locations where males display and breed with females (i.e., leks) are often monitored annually by state wildlife agencies, providing valuable information on the persistence of birds in the surrounding areas. A U.S. range-wide lek database was
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Fort Collins Science Center

Hierarchically nested and biologically relevant range-wide monitoring frameworks for greater sage-grouse, western United States

We produced 13 hierarchically nested cluster levels that reflect the results from developing a hierarchical monitoring framework for greater sage-grouse across the western United States. Polygons (clusters) within each cluster level group a population of sage-grouse leks (sage-grouse breeding grounds) and each level increasingly groups lek clusters from previous levels. We developed the hierarchic
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Fort Collins Science Center

Median Estimates of Impact Potential from Geothermal Energy Production Activities on Greater Sage-Grouse Populations in Nevada and California (2022)

These data are the result of an intersection between a surface representing the delta-finite rate of population change and another surface representing Greater Sage-grouse abundance and space-use. It was used to rank candidate sites according to greatest potential impact to Greater Sage-grouse populations resulting from the presence of geothermal energy activity. In 2022, candidate geothermal site
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Selection and Survival of Greater Sage-Grouse Broods in Mesic Areas of Long Valley, California (2003 - 2018)

We evaluated brood-rearing habitat selection and brood survival of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) in Long Valley, California, an area where the water rights are primarily owned by the city of Los Angeles and water is used locally to irrigate for livestock. This area thus represents a unique balance between the needs of wildlife and people that could increas
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Sagebrush Restoration Following Fire Disturbance in the Virginia Mountains, Nevada (2018)

We developed a framework that strategically targets burned areas for restoration actions (e.g., seeding or planting sagebrush) that have the greatest potential to positively benefit Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter sage-grouse) populations through time. Specifically, we estimated sagebrush (Artemisia Spp.) recovery following wildfire and risk of non-native annual grass inv
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Spatially-Explicit Predictive Maps of Greater Sage-Grouse Brood Selection Integrated with Brood Survival in Nevada and Northeastern California, USA

We used a hierarchical Bayesian modeling framework to estimate resource selection functions and survival for early and late brood-rearing stages of sage-grouse in relation to a broad suite of habitat characteristics evaluated at multiple spatial scales within the Great Basin from 2009 to 2019. Sage-grouse selected for greater perennial grass cover, higher relative elevations, and areas closer to s
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Greater Sage-Grouse Nest Observations Before and After Wildfire Disturbance in Northeastern California (2007-2018)

We monitored Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, Sage-Grouse) nests and various habitat characteristics at the nest locations near Susanville in northeastern California, crossing over into northwestern Nevada. We employed a before-after-control-impact (BACI) experimental design to account for spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the system and to derive estimates of relative chan
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)
Filter Total Items: 123

Range-wide population trend analysis for greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)—Updated 1960–2022

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are at the center of state and national land-use policies largely because of their unique life-history traits as an ecological indicator for health of sagebrush ecosystems. This updated population trend analysis provides state and federal land and wildlife managers with best-available science to help guide current management and conservation plans ai
Authors
Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Cameron L. Aldridge, Michael S. O'Donnell, David R. Edmunds, Adrian P. Monroe, Steve E. Hanser, Lief A. Wiechman, Michael P. Chenaille
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

A targeted annual warning system developed for the conservation of a sagebrush indicator species

A fundamental goal of population ecologists is to identify drivers responsible for temporal variation in abundance. Understanding whether variation is associated with environmental stochasticity or anthropogenic disturbances, which are more amenable to management action, is crucial yet difficult to achieve. Here, we present a hierarchical monitoring framework that models rates of change in abundan
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Brian G. Prochazka, Peter S. Coates, Michael O'Donnell, David R. Edmunds, Adrian P. Monroe, Mark A. Ricca, Gregory T. Wann, Steve E. Hanser, Lief A. Wiechman, Kevin E. Doherty, Michael P. Chenaille, Cameron L. Aldridge
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Geothermal energy production adversely affects a sensitive indicator species within sagebrush ecosystems in western North America

Growing demand for renewable energy has resulted in expansion of energy infrastructure across sagebrush ecosystems of western North America. Geothermal power is an increasingly popular renewable energy source, especially within remote areas, but little is known about the impacts it may have on local wildlife populations. Investigations are warranted given similarities to more conventional surface
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Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Shawn O'Neil, Sarah Catherine Webster, Shawn Espinosa, Mark A. Ricca, Steven R. Mathews, Michael L. Casazza, David J. Delehanty
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

A Bayesian multi-stage modelling framework to evaluate impacts of energy development on wildlife populations: An application to Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)

Increased demand for domestic production of renewable energy has led to expansion of energy infrastructure across western North America. Much of the western U.S. comprises remote landscapes that are home to a variety of vegetation communities and wildlife species, including the imperiled sagebrush ecosystem and indicator species such as greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Geothermal s
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Brian G. Prochazka, Shawn O'Neil, Peter S. Coates
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Could biological soil crusts act as natural fire fuel breaks in the sagebrush steppe?

No abstract available.
Authors
Lea A. Condon, Douglas J. Shinneman, Roger Rosentreter, Peter S. Coates
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Influence of fine-scale habitat characteristics on sage-grouse nest site selection and nest survival varies by mesic and xeric site conditions

Resource managers and scientists across western U.S. agencies seek methodologies for identifying environmental attributes important to both wildlife conservation and broad-scale land stewardship. The Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) exemplifies a species in need of this broad-scale approach given widespread population declines that have resulted from loss and
Authors
Brianne E. Brussee, Peter S. Coates, Shawn O'Neil, Mark A. Ricca, Jonathan E. Dudko, Shawn P. Espinosa, Scott C. Gardner, Michael L. Casazza, David J. Delehanty
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Range-wide population trend analysis for greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)—Updated 1960–2021

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are at the center of state and national land use policies largely because of their unique life-history traits as an ecological indicator for health of sagebrush ecosystems. This updated population trend analysis provides state and federal land and wildlife managers with best-available science to help guide current management and conservation plans ai
Authors
Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Cameron L. Aldridge, Michael S. O'Donnell, David R. Edmunds, Adrian P. Monroe, Steve E. Hanser, Lief A. Wiechman, Michael P. Chenaille
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Moisture abundance and proximity mediate seasonal use of mesic areas and survival of greater sage-grouse broods

Water is a critical and limited resource, particularly in the arid West, but water availability is projected to decline even while demand increases due to growing human populations and increases in duration and severity of drought. Mesic areas provide important water resources for numerous wildlife species, including the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse), an i
Authors
John P. Severson, Peter S. Coates, Megan Cochran Milligan, Shawn O'Neil, Mark A. Ricca, Steve C. Abele, John D. Boone, Michael L. Casazza
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

A genetic warning system for a hierarchically structured wildlife monitoring framework

Genetic variation is a well-known indicator of population fitness yet is not typically included in monitoring programs for sensitive species. Additionally, most programs monitor populations at one scale, which can lead to potential mismatches with ecological processes critical to species' conservation. Recently developed methods generating hierarchically nested population units (i.e., clusters of
Authors
Shawna J Zimmerman, Cameron L. Aldridge, Michael O'Donnell, David R. Edmunds, Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Jennifer A. Fike, Todd B. Cross, Bradley C. Fedy, Sara J. Oyler-McCance
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

A regionally varying habitat model to inform management for greater sage-grouse persistence across their range

Identifying habitat needs for species with large distributions is challenging because species-habitat associations may vary across scales and regions (spatial nonstationarity). Furthermore, management efforts often cross jurisdictional boundaries, complicating the development of cohesive conservation strategies among management entities. The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is a rap
Authors
Gregory T. Wann, Nathan D. Van Schmidt, Jessica E. Shyvers, Bryan C. Tarbox, Megan M. McLachlan, Michael O'Donnell, Anthony J Titolo, Peter S. Coates, David R. Edmunds, Julie A. Heinrichs, Adrian P. Monroe, Cameron L. Aldridge
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Maladaptive nest-site selection and reduced nest survival in female sage-grouse following wildfire

Increased wildfire frequency and associated replacement of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) with invasive annual grasses contribute to declines of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter, sage-grouse) populations across the Great Basin. However, little is known about wildfire effects on sage-grouse nest-site selection and nest survival, which can influence population persistence. The p
Authors
Ian F. Dudley, Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Dawn M. Davis, Scott C. Gardner, David J. Delehanty
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Defining biologically relevant and hierarchically nested population units to inform wildlife management

Wildlife populations are increasingly affected by natural and anthropogenic changes that negatively alter biotic and abiotic processes at multiple spatiotemporal scales and therefore require increased wildlife management and conservation efforts. However, wildlife management boundaries frequently lack biological context and mechanisms to assess demographic data across the multiple spatiotemporal s
Authors
Michael O'Donnell, David R. Edmunds, Cameron L. Aldridge, Julie A. Heinrichs, Adrian P. Monroe, Peter S. Coates, Brian G. Prochazka, Steve E. Hanser, Lief A. Wiechman
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Conservation Planning Tool for the Bi-State Distinct Population Segment of Greater Sage-grouse 1.0.0

A decision support tool for conifer treatment to restore greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) habitat within the Bi-State, California and Nevada, area. This tool provides a science-based approach for prioritizing pinyon and juniper removal to improve habitat for greater sage-grouse in the Bi-State Distinct Population Segment.

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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC), Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Conservation Planning Tool for the Bi-State Distinct Population Segment of Greater Sage-grouse

The Bi-State conservation planning tool provides a science-based approach for prioritizing pinyon (Pinus spp.) and juniper (Juniperus osteosperma, J. occidentalis), hereafter, 'conifer', removal to improve habitat for greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in the Bi-State Distinct Population Segment (DPS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2010). Conifer negatively affects sage-grouse surviva
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Code to Examine How the Influence of Fine-Scale Habitat Characteristics on Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) Nest Site Selection and Nest Survival Varies by Mesic and Xeric Site Conditions version 1.0

This repository centralizes R code used to examine how the influence of fine-scale habitat characteristics on Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) nest site selection and nest survival varies by mesic and xeric site conditions, utilizing data collected from a wide range of study sites in Nevada and California, USA. The R script "nest_selection_model.R" provides code for a GLMM framewor
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

raventools v1.0

raventools: A package to facilitate raven management in the western U.S. The raventools package centralizes several publicly available geospatial datasets that are essential to mapping and modeling for common raven (Corvus corax) management applications, including raven occurrence and density data, sensitive species distribution data, raven subsidy data, and Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus uroph
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

rsgis v1.0

rsgis: A package to facilitate greater sage-grouse management in the western US The rsgis package centralizes several publicly available geospatial datasets that are essential to mapping and modeling for Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) management applications, including important habitat and breeding areas for sage-grouse and political/regional boundaries. To cite the package, plea
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

popcluster: hierarchical population monitoring frameworks, Version 2.0.0

We developed a method to construct hierarchically nested and biologically relevant groupings of similar habitats associated with field surveys while considering structure/connectedness (movements between habitats). This approach can support mobile species using high fidelity sites where monitoring during surveys occurs, such as birthing grounds, breeding grounds, or stopovers/seasonal habitats for
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Fort Collins Science Center

grsg_lekdb: Compiling and standardizing greater sage-grouse lek databases, version 1.1.0

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are landscape-scale sagebrush obligate species and an important gamebird and iconic species of the western United States. They occupy the sagebrush biome in western North America, extending east of the Sierra Nevada/Cascade Mountain ranges to the western regions of the Great Plains of the United States. Sage-grouse are one of the most closely monitor
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Land Management Research Program, Fort Collins Science Center

lcp_centrality: Defining least-cost paths and graph theory centrality measures

We present software that creates least-cost path spanning trees, a least-cost path minimum spanning tree, and graph theory centrality measures. The software was developed to support identification of population structures--specifically, greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), but also support other species or graph theory applications where least-cost paths are desired. We used habitat pa
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Fort Collins Science Center

Science-based Management of Ravens Tool (SMaRT)

The Science-based Management of Ravens Tool (SMaRT) supports a science-based adaptive management framework that incorporates recent quantitative analyses and mapping products for addressing areas with elevated common raven (Corvus corax) numbers and minimizing potential adverse impacts to sensitive species, agricultural damage, and human safety (Dettenmaier et al. 2021). This is a web-based applic
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

grsg_lekdb: Compiling and standardizing greater sage-grouse lek databases

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are landscape-scale sagebrush obligate species and an important gamebird and iconic species of the western United States. They occupy the sagebrush biome in western North America, extending east of the Sierra Nevada/Cascade Mountain ranges to the western regions of the Great Plains of the United States. Sage-grouse are one of the most closely monitor
By
Fort Collins Science Center

popcluster: Developing Hierarchical Population Monitoring Frameworks for mobile species with high site fidelity

The software "popcluster" constructs hierarchically nested groupings of similar habitats associated with field surveys while considering biological structure/connectedness (movements between habitats). This approach can support mobile species with high site fidelity where monitoring during surveys occurs on birthing grounds, breeding grounds, or stopovers/seasonal habitat for migratory species. Ea
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Fort Collins Science Center
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Building maps to help geothermal energy and greater sage-grouse coexist in Nevada’s sagebrush country

A U.S. Geological Survey study finds that geothermal energy development contributes to population declines of greater sage-grouse.  A new tool can...

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When Unchecked, Free-Roaming Horse Populations Threaten Greater Sage-Grouse

Greater sage-grouse populations may decline by more than 70% within free-roaming horse-occupied areas by 2034 if horse populations increase unchecked...

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12 Days of Conifers: Pinyon, Juniper, and the Greater Sage-Grouse

It’s Day 7 of 12 Days Of Conifers and we’re headed to the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and into the sagebrush country at the edge of the Great...

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Research Spotlight: New Research Indicates that Greater Sage-Grouse are Struggling to Adapt to Wildfire-Induced Changes in the Great Basin

Research from the USGS and partners concluded that greater sage-grouse in the Great Basin often select nest sites that result in poor nest survival...

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Post-Fire Growth of Seeded and Planted Big Sagebrush – Strategic Designs for Restoring Greater Sage-grouse Nesting Habitat

Recent wildfire-induced losses of big sagebrush are outpacing natural recovery and leading to substantial losses in habitat for species such as...

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Research Spotlight: Human Enterprise Brings More Ravens to the Great Basin, Threatening Greater Sage-Grouse

A new publication from the US Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center (USGS WERC) and partners finds that ravens present a major risk to...

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Altering Sagebrush Landscapes with Fuel Breaks to Save Them from Wildfire

Linear fuel breaks have long been used to help suppress fire in the Great Basin, and thousands of miles of new fuel breaks may be constructed in...

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Cumulative Effects of Wildfire Adversely Affect Greater Sage-Grouse in the Great Basin

Slowing fire-related population declines in greater sage-grouse in the Great Basin over the next 30 years may depend on the intensity of fire...
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Sac State Ecology Colloquium Connects Students with USGS Researchers

The U.S. Geological Survey has teamed up with California State University, Sacramento to provide students and faculty with an Ecology Colloquium lectu...

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Science and Products

*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government