Research Task: 8327CNJ.5.0
Task Manager: Sara Oyler-McCance
The Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) has one of the most restricted ranges of North American grouse, having sustained marked reductions in suitable habitat over the past 100 years. What remains is a highly fragmented distribution throughout its range. Despite a slowing in the rate of habitat loss, populations have continued to decline range-wide, and the bird is considered a “warranted but precluded” threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). FWS managers are concerned that genetic diversity within individual populations might not be sufficient to maintain them. Using mitochondrial DNA sequence and nuclear microsatellite analyses on three Kansas populations of Lesser Prairie-Chicken, a FORT scientist and collaborators at Kansas State University are determining if this is the case. The results will help managers determine the best conservation practices for these birds at local and regional levels.
For more information contact Sara Oyler-McCance
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.fort.usgs.gov/Research/research_tasks.asp
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