Rangeland Ecology & Management

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WINTER SURVIVAL RISK FOR PRONGHORN EXPOSED TO WIND ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH-CENTRAL, WYOMING
Author
Beck, Jeffrey L.
Taylor, Kaitlyn L.
Huzurbazar, Snehalata V.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2014
Body

Landscapes with high potential for wind energy development often coincide with suitable wintering habitat for pronghorn (Antilocapra americana).  Evaluating the influence of energy development on pronghorn winter survival is particularly critical because they encounter elevated energetic demands during this time.  We evaluated pronghorn survival risk on a landscape developed for wind energy production (Dunlap Ranch) over 3 winters (2010, 2010–2011, 2011–2012) in south-central Wyoming, USA.  We modeled survival with GPS data from 52 doe pronghorn captured in January 2010 and December 2011.  Twenty-four GPS-marked pronghorn died with the majority of deaths in winter 2010–2011.  The Kaplan-Meier survival estimate (Åœ) for winter 2010 was 1.00 (95% CI: 0.94–1.00), winter 2010–2011 was 0.55 (95% CI: 0.36–0.74), and winter 2011–2012 was 0.92 (95% CI: 0.82–1.00).  We employed hierarchical modeling with Anthropogenic, Environmental, and Wind Energy predictor variable categories using the Cox proportional hazards model.  We allowed top models from each category to compete with each other in all possible combinations to identify an overall top model.  We identified 9 competitive models (∆ AIC ?3.829) for pronghorn winter survival inclusive of predictor variables from Anthropogenic, Environmental, and Wind Energy categories.  The Wind Energy model was uninformative and did not improve model fit when included with Anthropogenic or Environmental models.  Our top model included anthropogenic and environmental predictors, indicating pronghorn winter mortality risk decreased in winter with increasing distance from major roads (hazard ratio = 0.80, 85% CI: 0.68–0.95), with increasing time spent in sagebrush (Artemisia L. spp.) habitats (hazard ratio = 0.96; 85% CI: 0.95–0.97), and with increasing terrain ruggedness (hazard ratio = 0.08, 85% CI: 0.01–0.51).  We did not identify an effect of wind energy development on pronghorn survival; however, our findings may not be applicable to pronghorn populations exposed to larger-scale wind energy developments.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Orlando, FL