Get reliable rangeland science

Temperate grasslands, including mixed grass prairies, suffer from the greatest levels of habitat loss and degradation of any ecosystem. This can have cascading negative effects including changes in ecosystem function, wildlife population declines, and the deterioration of ecosystem services. Grazing is the predominant land use on grasslands across western North America and directly affects the structure, composition, and productivity of these ecosystems. While certain grazing regimes can negatively affect wildlife habitat, properly managed grazing can be compatible with wildlife conservation and is preferable to other land uses that destroy or fragment native grasslands. Rest-rotation grazing is implemented on conservation easements in Montana to improve wildlife habitat, but this grazing system was developed in arid bunchgrass rangelands and its effectiveness has not been studied in more mesic mixed grass prairie. Sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) have large home ranges and differing requirements for nesting and winter habitat, making them an ideal indicator species for grassland habitats. Rest-rotation grazing systems could influence grouse habitat selection at multiple spatial scales by providing patches of habitat that are periodically rested from disturbance. We hypothesized that management regimes that provide these heterogeneous mosaics of grassland habitats would result in smaller home ranges and shorter individual movements due to increased heterogeneity resulting in greater availability or proximity of important resources. We used compositional analysis and resource utilization functions to investigate home range selection in relation to the larger study area and selection of habitat features within the home range, respectively. We monitored 82 female sharp-tailed grouse during the breeding seasons of 2016-17. Average home range size was 503 � 56 ha and grazing system was not a good predictor of home range size. By evaluating sharp-tailed grouse habitat selection, this research provides insight into the effectiveness of different rangeland management practices for improving wildlife habitat.�