Greater sage-grouse general use (high abundance) probability of occurrence

Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) have been declining both spatially and numerically throughout their range due to anthropogenic disturbance and loss and fragmentation of sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) habitats. Understanding how sage-grouse respond to these habitat alterations and disturbances, particularly the types of disturbances and extent at which they respond, is critical to designing management actions and prioritizing areas of conservation. To address these needs, we developed this spatially explicit model of the relationship between occurrence and abundance of greater sage-grouse and multi-scaled measures of vegetation, abiotic, and disturbance in the Wyoming Basins Ecoregional Assessment (WBEA) area. Sage-grouse occurrence was strongly related to the amount of sagebrush within 1 km. Proximity to anthropogenic disturbance including energy development, power lines, and major roads was negatively associated with sage-grouse occurrence. General use was identified by presence of single sage-grouse fecal pellets. The information here was developed using a generalized ordered logistic regression with study sites assigned into absent, low, and high abundance classes. Probability of occurrence is related to the probability of high abundance occurrence. This map correctly predicted active lek locations with >75% accuracy.