Project period: 9 16 24-9 15 25PROJECT title: assessing wildlife population trends across shrublands, grassland and alpine ecosystemswildlife in grassland, shrubland and alpine ecosystems live in…

Project period: 9 16 24-9 15 25PROJECT title: assessing wildlife population trends across shrublands, grassland and alpine ecosystemswildlife in grassland, shrubland and alpine ecosystems live in dynamic and changing environments. The ecosystems and habitats are changing with growing human populations and associated changes in land use and environmental and climatic conditions. Many species and populations of conservation concern are responding to changes in energy development, increased wildfire, disease spread, and shifts in climatic conditions. These changes are departing from historical patterns, and occurring in new places and at altered paces, making species conservation and management more difficult. Federal and state agencies and partners need to understand how wildlife responses to environmental conditions are changing, to develop new strategies for wildlife conservation and management. However, this can be a challenging task requiring both historical analyses of past patterns, projection analyses of near-term trends, and forecasting simulations to assess long-term trajectories. Propose to develop a suite of wildlife response models that assess how species have responded to past, current, or potential future change factors. Collectively, these spatial models and tools should directly inform management decisions to help conservation populations of birds and ungulates across these systems. To support U.S. Geological survey and partners by developing a suite of wildlife analyses addressing species responses to changes in vegetation, disturbances from energy development and fires, disease, climate change and other disturbances. Will focus on priority species of conservation concern and key causes of change within grassland, shrubland and alpine ecosystems. Specifically, propose to focus analyses on 1) ungulate responses to chronic wasting disease spread 2) greater sage-grouse and songbird responses to land-use change in shrublands and grasslands 3) and white-tailed ptarmigan responses to alpine climatic change. Methods will generally include the following: 1) gathering, evaluating and analyzing available vegetation and wildlife data 2) creating, updating, or modifying spatial layers or models 3) assessing or quantifying relationships between spatial factors and ecological responses 4) evaluating landscape, habitat, or population outcomes 5) sharing and soliciting feedback with partner agencies. Will use a range of statistical analyses, connectivity models, strategic literature reviews, and GIS tools to conduct this work. Research on these topics will support the U.S. Geological survey, bureau of land management, and state partners in better understanding resource needs and population conditions of species of conservation concern across grassland, shrubland, and alpine ecosystems. The resulting datasets, models, and tools will serve as decision support resources and can directly inform land management and federal and state wildlife agency decisions on managing wildlife populations in changing ecosystems.