Evaluating Spatial Coverage of the Greater Sage-Grouse Umbrella to Conserve Sagebrush-Dependent Species Biodiversity within the Wyoming Basins

Cameron L. Aldridge (), D. Joanne Saher, Julie A. Heinrichs, Adrian P. Monroe, Matthias Leu and Steve E. Hanser
Additional contact information
Cameron L. Aldridge: U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 2150 Centre Ave, Building C, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA
D. Joanne Saher: Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, in Cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 2150 Centre Ave, Building C, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA
Julie A. Heinrichs: Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, in Cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 2150 Centre Ave, Building C, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA
Adrian P. Monroe: U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 2150 Centre Ave, Building C, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA
Matthias Leu: Biology Department, College of William and Mary, 540 Landrum Dr, P.O. Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187, USA
Steve E. Hanser: U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 2150 Centre Ave, Building C, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: Biodiversity is threatened due to land-use change, overexploitation, pollution, and anthropogenic climate change, altering ecosystem functioning around the globe. Protecting areas rich in biodiversity is often difficult without fully understanding and mapping species’ ecological niche requirements. As a result, the umbrella species concept is often applied, whereby conservation of a surrogate species is used to indirectly protect species that occupy similar ecological communities. One such species is the greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus ), which has been used as an umbrella to conserve other species within the sagebrush ( Artemisia spp.) ecosystem. Sagebrush-steppe ecosystems within the United States have experienced drastic loss, fragmentation, and degradation of remaining habitat, threatening sagebrush-dependent fauna, resulting in west-wide conservation efforts to protect sage-grouse habitats, and presumably other sagebrush wildlife. We evaluated the effectiveness of the greater sage-grouse umbrella to conserve biodiversity using data-driven spatial occupancy and abundance models for seven sagebrush-dependent (obligate or associated) species across the greater Wyoming Basins Ecoregional Assessment (WBEA) area (345,300 km 2 ) and assessed overlap with predicted sage-grouse occurrence. Predicted sage-grouse habitat from empirical models only partially (39–58%) captured habitats identified by predicted occurrence models for three sagebrush-obligate songbirds and 60% of biodiversity hotspots (richness of 4–6 species). Sage-grouse priority areas for conservation only captured 59% of model-predicted sage-grouse habitat, and only slightly fewer (56%) biodiversity hotspots. We suggest that the greater sage-grouse habitats may be partially effective as an umbrella for the conservation of sagebrush-dependent species within the sagebrush biome, and management actions aiming to conserve biodiversity should directly consider the explicit mapping of resource requirements for other taxonomic groups.

Keywords: biodiversity; Centrocercus urophasianus; hotspots; sagebrush species richness; umbrella species; Wyoming Basins (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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