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CREATING AND UTILIZING NESTED NICHE MODELS FOR GREATER SAGE-GROUSE (CENTROCERCUS UROPHASIANUS) HABITAT IN THE STATE OF UTAH
Author
Mayagoitia, Piedad E.
Walker, John W.
Pittarello, Marco
Estell, Rick E.
Bailey, Derek W.
Forster, Richard
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2014
Body

Concern over greater sage-grouse management has increased over recent years and Utah land managers are in the process of improving their sage-grouse protection plans. Some of the challenges to sage-grouse management in Utah include extent of potential habitat, cost of assessment and diverse land ownership (private, BLM, DWR, Forest Service, Native American, etc.). To assist with this process, we created state-wide predictive models using multiple methods to delineate potential sage-grouse habitat. Non-parametric multiplicative regression was utilized to create sagebrush presence models. Total vegetation cover models were created using generalized additive models. These were then combined with topographic and climate variables in Maxent, Hyperniche and Random Forest to delineate potential sage-grouse habitat. A combined sage-grouse model was created utilizing outputs from all 3 models. All models were assessed using both model strength (during creation) and validation (as defined by overall accuracy compared to field collected data). Additionally, the models were used to identify potential corridors for current and future sage-grouse population movements.  

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Orlando, FL
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts