Great Basin Sage-Grouse Concentration Areas.

Indices of habitat suitability and animal abundance provide useful proxy-based measures adaptive management (Coates et al. 2015a). Doherty et al. (in review) derived a range-wide population index model for sage-grouse using such indices that incorporated sage-grouse habitat suitability generated from Random Forest models (Evans et al. 2011), and spatially explicit abundance measures based on fixed kernel density functions informed by distributions of lek locations (lek locations defined by Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, see Coates et al. 2015b). The kernels were generated using two bandwidth distances representing the majority of breeding habitat in relation to leks (6.4 km) and seasonal movements (18.0 km). Relationships between abundance indices and the overall population index model were then evaluated to demarcate areas that are the most meaningful to sage-grouse populations (i.e., sage-grouse concentration areas). REFERENCES Coates, P. S., M. L. Casazza, M. A. Ricca, B. E. Brussee, E. J. Blomberg, K. B. Gustafson, C. T. Overton, D. Davis, L. Neill, S. P. Espinosa, S. C. Gardner, and D. J. Delehanty. 2015a. Integrating spatially explicit indices of abundance and habitat quality: an applied example for greater sage-grouse management. J. Appl. Ecol. (available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12558/epdf). Coates, P. S., M. A. Ricca, B. G. Prochazka, K. E. Doherty, M. L. Brooks, and M. L. Casazza. 2015b. Long-term effects of wildfire on greater sage-grouse - integrating population and ecosystem concepts for management in the Great Basin. Report 2015-1165, Reston, VA. http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr20151165 Doherty, K. E., J. S. Evans, P. S. Coates, L. Juliusson, and B. C. Fedy. In review. Importance of regional variation in conservation planning and defining thresholds for a declining species: a range-wide example of the greater sage-grouse. Ecosphere. Evans, J. S., M. A. Murphy, Z. A. Holden, and S. A. Cushman. 2011. Modeling species distribution and change using Random Forests in Predictive species and habitat modeling.in C. A. Drew, W. Y.F., and F. Huettmann editors. Landscape ecology: concepts and applications. Springer, New York. Vander Wal, E., and A. R. Rodgers. 2012. An individual-based quantitative approach for delineating core areas of animal space use. Ecological Modelling 224:48-53.