12/23/2023 0 Comments Umbrella speciesThis story ran in the March-April issue as "Steppe by Steppe. Here’s a look at some of the plants and animals likely to benefit from greater-sage grouse conservation. Conserving the sage-grouse, an “umbrella” species, helps protect a wide array of other wildlife that rely on the same habitat. To protect the bird in the 11 states where it occurs, the federal government has adopted a “core-habitat” strategy, pioneered in part by Audubon, which aims to limit development on lands most critical to the species’ survival. These charismatic birds, which are strongly tied to the sagebrush steppe landscape of western North America, are threatened by habitat degradation, largely due to farming, invasive plants, and, increasingly, oil and gas development. Based on our criteria, management of sage-grouse habitats likely would offer relatively high conservation coverage for sagebrush obligates such as pygmy rabbit (mean φ = 0.84), but far less for other species we addressed, such as lark sparrow (mean (φ = 0.09), largely due to lack of commonality in land-cover affinity and geographic ranges of these species and sage-grouse.The greater sage-grouse is famous for its elaborate courtship displays, with males strutting, fanning their tail feathers, and popping the yellow air sacs on their breasts to create a whup sound that can be heard up to two miles away. We surveyed the species diversity of birds, butterflies, carabids, and forest-floor plants in forest sites across an area (1600 km2) in which we delineated. Spatial overlap between habitats of target species and those associated with sage-grouse was low (mean φ = 0.23), but somewhat greater for habitats at high risk of displacement by cheatgrass (mean φ = 0.33). These species have a larger habitat needs and other requirements. Hence, umbrella species can be used to make conservation-related decisions. Overlap in species' land-cover associations with those of sage-grouse, based on the φ (phi) correlation coefficient, was substantially greater for sagebrush obligates (x = 0.40) than non-obligates (x = 0.21). Umbrella species are such kind of species whose conservation indirectly protects many other species in the ecosystem. Managers have adopted an umbrella concept, creating habitat characteristics specific to sage-grouse requirements, in the belief that other wildlife species. We tested that concept by comparing: (1) commonality in land-cover associations, and (2) spatial overlap in habitats between sage-grouse and 39 other sagebrush-associated vertebrate species of conservation concern in the Great Basin ecoregion. However, the SBSH is an expansive habitat found across 11 western US states and two Canadian province that covers. The efficacy of using sage-grouse as an umbrella species for conservation management, however, has not been fully evaluated. An umbrella species, a close cousin to keystone or an indicator species, is a plant or animal used to represent other species or aspects of the environment to achieve conservation objectives. This shortcut approach assumes that managing habitats to conserve sage-grouse will simultaneously benefit other species of conservation concern. Across much of the American West, the greater sage grouse is one such umbrella species. One such approach involves the use of greater sage-grouse, a species of prominent conservation interest, as an umbrella species. The umbrella species concept is an appealing shortcut, says Jason Carlisle, who conducted the research as a doctoral candidate at the University of Wyoming. An umbrella species is a species, typically an animal or plant, whose protection and conservation also indirectly protects many other species in their comm. Widespread degradation of the sagebrush ecosystem in the western United States, including the invasion of cheatgrass, has prompted resource managers to consider a variety of approaches to restore and conserve habitats for sagebrush-associated species.
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