Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) scale of effect for Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) population trends in southwest Wyoming, USA 2003-2019

The distance within which populations respond to features in a landscape (scale of effect) can indicate how disturbance and management may affect wildlife. Using annual counts of male Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) attending 584 leks in southwest Wyoming (2003-2019) and estimates of sagebrush cover from the Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP), we used a scale selection approach to jointly estimate the scale of effect and the effect of sagebrush cover in the surrounding landscape for sage-grouse population trends. We estimated these parameters using a state-space model fit with a Bayesian approach. Data formatting necessary for this analysis produced data stored in two lists, one for model constants (nimbleconstants_sg_wlci.txt, including number of years, number of sites [leks], number of scales, number of visits, indicators for site and year, and number of detection parameters) and one for model data (nimbledata_sg_wlci.txt, including lek counts/surveys in both long- and array-format, a matrix for detection covariates, an array for sagebrush cover [scaled], and unscaled arrays for sagebrush, ordinal date, and time since sunrise).