Data from: Use of opportunistic sightings and expert knowledge to predict and compare Whooping Crane stopover habitat

Predicting a species’ distribution can be helpful for evaluating
management actions such as critical habitat designations under the U.S.
Endangered Species Act or habitat acquisition and rehabilitation. Whooping
Cranes (Grus americana) are one of the rarest birds in the world, and
conservation and management of habitat is required to ensure their
survival. We developed a species distribution model (SDM) that could be
used to inform habitat management actions for Whooping Cranes within the
state of Nebraska (U.S.A.). We collated 407 opportunistic Whooping Crane
group records reported from 1988 to 2012. Most records of Whooping Cranes
were contributed by the public; therefore, developing an SDM that
accounted for sampling bias was essential because observations at some
migration stopover locations may be under represented. An auxiliary data
set, required to explore the influence of sampling bias, was derived with
expert elicitation. Using our SDM, we compared an intensively managed area
in the Central Platte River Valley with the Niobrara National Scenic River
in northern Nebraska. Our results suggest, during the peak of migration,
Whooping Crane abundance was 262.2 (90% CI 40.2−3144.2) times higher per
unit area in the Central Platte River Valley relative to the Niobrara
National Scenic River. Although we compared only 2 areas, our model could
be used to evaluate any region within the state of Nebraska. Furthermore,
our expert-informed modeling approach could be applied to opportunistic
presence-only data when sampling bias is a concern and expert knowledge is
available.