Research Task: 8327CFC.4.0
Task Manager: Cameron Aldridge
Conservation and restoration of sagebrush ecosystems is of special concern to Federal and State land and wildlife management agencies due to extensive habitat degradation and loss since European settlement. Myriad potential threats to the sagebrush ecosystem (livestock grazing, accelerated development of energy and natural resources, and construction of associated infrastructure such as roads, powerlines, and pipelines), particularly in the Wyoming Basins, have not been systematically addressed on an ecoregional scale. Ecoregional assessments constitute valuable predictive tools for addressing large-scale, range-wide factors likely to affect the well-being of species of concern and can guide the development of management plans to reduce further loss or degradation of their habitats. For this task, FORT scientists will (1) develop spatially explicit models for 10 additional candidate species occurring across the Wyoming Basins Ecoregional Assessment Study Area, (2) conduct field surveys to sample distributions of species of concern stratified by gradients describing habitat and disturbance, and (3) use field data to assess the accuracy of all 10 different species models, update the model parameters, identify regions of significant land-use impact, and test the response of these species to human disturbance.
For more information contact Cameron Aldridge
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.fort.usgs.gov/Research/research_tasks.asp
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