Article
 

Lesser prairie-chicken brood habitat in sand sagebrush: invertebrate biomass and vegetation

Public Deposited

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/7s75dc80h

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • Invertebrates are an important food source for grouse chicks, especially within the first 2 weeks of life. Invertebrate abundance is highly patchy and dependent upon herbaceous cover and vegetation structure. We examined the relationship between invertebrate biomass (from sweepnet samples) and habitat structure at lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) brood-use and non-use areas during 2001 and 2002 in a sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia) prairie vegetation community of southwestern Kansas. We delineated use and non-use areas from paired sampling points within and outside 95% utilization distributions of radiomarked brood females, respectively, during the first 60 days post-hatch. We measured vegetation cover and invertebrate biomass (Acrididae and "other" invertebrates) at 71 paired points on 2 study sites (Site 1=4 broods, Site 11 = 12 broods). Both Acrididae and other invertebrate biomasses were greater at brood areas than non-use areas on both study sites, suggesting this food source likely had a greater influence on brood habitat use than vegetation type. Vegetation structure described brood-use areas better than vegetation type because brood-use areas had greater visual obstruction readings (VORs) than non-use areas regardless of dominant cover type. We also examined the predictive relationship between vegetation type and invertebrate biomass. Sand sagebrush density was the best linear predictor of Acrididae biomass, with lower densities having the greatest Acrididae biomass. We propose experiments to determine best management practices that produce abundant invertebrate biomasses for lesser prairie-chicken brood habitat, using our study as a baseline.
  • Keywords: invertebrate biomass, habitat use, sand sagebrush, Acrididae, Kansas, Artemisia filifolia, lesser prairie-chicken, Tympanuchus pallidicinctus
Resource Type
DOI
Date Available
Date Issued
Citation
  • Hagen, C. A., Salter, G. C., Pitman, J. C., Robel, R. J., & Applegate, R. D. (2005). Lesser prairie-chicken brood habitat in sand sagebrush: invertebrate biomass and vegetation. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 33(3), 1080-1091. doi:10.2193/0091-7648(2005)33[1080:LPBHIS]2.0.CO;2
Journal Title
Journal Volume
  • 33
Journal Issue/Number
  • 3
Academic Affiliation
Rights Statement
Funding Statement (additional comments about funding)
  • Financial and logistical support was provided by Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (Federal Aid in Wildlife restoration project W-53-R), Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station (Contribution No. 04-231), and Division of Biology at Kansas State University.
Publisher
Peer Reviewed
Language
Replaces

Relationships

Parents:

This work has no parents.

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details HagenChristianFishWildlifeLesserPrarieChicken.pdf 2017-07-06 Public Download