A recent focus on sagebrush-obligate species has increased the need to understand sagebrush-steppe habitat for rangeland and wildlife management. We explored the influence of plant community attributes on nest fate of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in the Snake River Plain of Southern Idaho. Perennial bunchgrass height, and cover of forbs, grasses, and shrubs were examined across various ecological sites at four study locations. All study sites had an overstory of Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata�subsp.�wyomingensis) or low sagebrush (A. arbuscula) with a perennial bunchgrass understory and a variety of native forbs. Vegetation sampling occurred on three plot types (nest, nest patch, and random) during the sage-grouse nesting period (i.e., mid-April to June) for three years (2014-2016). Nonmetric multidemsional scaling (NMS) and the multiple-response permutation procedure (MRPP) were used to identify patterns among the plant communities. MRPP was also used to explore the relationship between nest fate and habitat characteristics as mediated by spring livestock grazing. Preliminary analyses showed a difference in grass height between grazed and ungrazed pastures, while no difference in grass height was detected between successful and unsuccessful sage-grouse nests. Additional detail will be reported regarding variation among these attributes with respect to ecological site, yearly climatic conditions, and grazing patterns and how these characteristics relate to whether a nest was successful or not.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.