Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative Monitoring Grid

Conserving Birds & Their Habitats

Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative Monitoring Grid

Rob Sparks and David Hanni

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Presentation Outline

• Current RMBO monitoring programs

• GPLCC standardized grid

• GPLCC landbird monitoring strata

• Conservation products

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Guidelines for Avian Monitoring

Goal 1: Integrate monitoring into bird management and conservation practices.

Goal 2: Coordinate monitoring programs among organizations and integrate them across spatial scales.

Goal 3: Increase the value of monitoring information by improving statistical design.

Goal 4: Maintain bird population monitoring data in modern data management systems.

http://www.nabci-us.org/aboutnabci/monitoringreportfinal0307.pdf

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Our Objectives

1) Provide a design framework to integrate bird monitoring efforts

2) Precisely estimate distribution, density, site occupancy, population trends and species richness

3) Provide habitat association data relevant to landscape changes

4) Maintain a high-quality database, accessible online

5) Create decision support tools to help guide conservation efforts

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Bird Conservation Regions

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Current Monitoring Programs

All lands in BCR 17

All lands in CO, WY and MT

Portions of 9 additional states

All BLM lands in: CO, WY, MT, ND, SD

All USFS lands in Regions 1 & 2 (CO, WY, NE, KS, SD, ND, ID, MT)

3 National Forests in Region 3(Kaibab, Coconino, Prescott)

Conserving birds and their habitats.

2010 Landbird Monitoring

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Colorado Division of WildlifeWyoming Game and Fish DepartmentMontana Fish, Wildlife and ParksSouth Dakota Game, Fish and ParksUSFS: 27 National Forests, 9 National

Grasslands, 4 regions, 12 statesBLM in 5 statesNational Park Service…(continued)

Current Partnerships

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Northern Great Plains Joint VentureAudubon WyomingWyoming Natural Diversity DatabaseMontana Natural Heritage ProgramIdaho Bird ObservatoryAvian Science CenterGreat Plains Landscape Conservation

Cooperative

Current Partnerships (cont.)

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Sampling Design and Methods

• Sampling Frame• Sampling Units• Sample Selection• Sample Allocation (effort)• Sampling Methods

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Sampling Frame: BCRs

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Sampling Units

1 km2 cell

Step 1: Overlay grid on sampling frame

Step 2: Attribute each cell with pertinent data (unique ID, spatial location, land ownership, elevation, soil type, …)

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Sample Selection

Spatially Balanced: Generalized Random Tessellation Stratification (GRTS)

Ensures a spatially balanced distribution of samples within each stratum

~ Random

Analyses can incorporate spatial information in estimation of sampling variance

Conserving birds and their habitats.

• Minimum of 2 samples required/stratum Recommend 10

• Determined by funding partners• May vary annually

Sample Allocation

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Example: Base Sample in BCR 18

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Additional Samples in Colorado

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Additional Samples - Comanche NG

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Sampling methods

• 16 points per cell 250 m spacing 125 m from edge

• 6 minute point count 1 minute intervals

• Record distance to each bird seen or heard

• Record species and sex for each observation

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Questions?

Jeff Jones

Conserving birds and their habitats.

GPLCC Monitoring Grid Objectives

• Create a standardized monitoring grid• USNG or MGRS

• Develop long term bird monitoring strata for GPLCC• Grid attributes

• Select samples• Spatially balanced sampling

– GRTS function in R

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Great Plains LCC

Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs)

• Science-based Partnerships

• Help guide and coordinate conservation efforts at regional levels

• Great Plains LCC consists of BCRs 18 & 19

Conserving birds and their habitats.

GPLCC Monitoring Grid

• The need for a monitoring framework at the regional level• Spatial context for statistical inferences and

predictions

• USNG Monitoring Grid• Biologists can use grid to monitor a variety of taxa at

multiple scales• Key grid elements: spatial extent, datum/projection,

scalability, standards

Conserving birds and their habitats.

US National Grid (USNG)

• USNG identified as a potential standard for monitoring populations at regional levels

• Developed by FGDC for emergency response coordination

• 1-km square grid cells

• Contains key elements for a proper monitoring grid (national coverage, commonly used datum/projection, scalable)

Conserving birds and their habitats.

USNG (cont.)

• Based on the NAD 83 geographic coordinate system• Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)

projection• Similar to the Military Grid Reference

System (MGRS)• MGRS uses WGS 84 datum

• Covers the entire United States• MGRS worldwide coverage

Conserving birds and their habitats.

USNG Scalability• The unique addressing system for the USNG allows

scalability from 100,000-km square to 1-m square. • Labeling system

– UTM Zone Designation. – 100,000-meter square designation– USNG: unique grid coordinates for a 1-km square

• Eastings/Northings

• Each 1-kilometer square grid cell has a spatial address (e.g. 13TGF3437)– Grid zone designator (13T)– 100,000-meter square identification (GF)– Unique grid coordinates (3437)/Eastings (34), Northings (37)

Conserving birds and their habitats.

USNG Issues

• Zipper effect: Cells along UTM zone junctions are smaller than 1-km square. • Only affects 0.33% of grid cells in GPLCC• Causes sampling problems; may bias estimates• Many possible solutions

– Remove zipper cells– Merge zipper cells to adjacent cells– Overlap zone junction cells

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Zipper Effect

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Zipper Effect Solution: Merge Cells

• Merged cells smaller than 0.95-km square into their adjacent cells• Equal probability of being

selected• No gaps or overlap• If selected for sampling, a 1-

km square will be randomly placed inside cell

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Grid Attribution

• We used GIS to attribute GPLCC grid• NRCS Soils

• NRCS Major Land Resource Areas (ecoregions)

• Federally owned or managed lands

• National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) Strahler order

• USFS proclaimed boundaries

• Nebraska: Biologically Unique Landscapes

• Priority Conservation Areas

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Final Product

• ArcGIS geodatabase• Grid datasets established by UTM zone, State,

and BCR–Location of cell centroid

• Naming convention:“STATE_USNG_UTMxx_BCRxx”

Example: CO_USNG_UTM13_BCR18

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Benefits of a standardized grid

• Same starting point• Spatial continuity across different projects

• Decrease project costs, necessary labor, and duplicate sampling efforts• No need to create multiple grids for multiple

projects

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Benefits (Cont.)

• Should improve partnership coordination at the landscape and local level to accomplish shared conservation goals (ABC and NBII)

• Can also be used for other monitoring programs• FLAM surveys across western US• Bat surveys USFS• Grouse Surveys CDOW

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Stratification Development

Stratification should be defined by areas to which we want to make inferences

Strata are based on fixed attributes • Federal/state land ownership• Elevation, latitude, soil type, ecoregion

All vegetation types available for sampling

Flexible: Each state within the BCR and each BCR within a state can be stratified differently (depending on local needs)

Conserving birds and their habitats.

GPLCC Stratification

Strata based on GIS layers:• NRCS Ecoregions • Soils• Federal Land Ownership• Rivers (Strahler order)• Biologically Unique

Landscapes (NE)• Priority Conservation Areas

Conserving birds and their habitats.

NE BCR 18 Strata

• Pine Ridge BUL• Wildcat Hills BUL• Niobrara River• Oglala N.G• Agate Fossil Beds

N.M

Conserving birds and their habitats.

NE BCR 19 Strata

• Rainwater Basin• Loess Uplands

Ecoregion• Niobrara River• Nebraska Sand

Hills Ecoregion• Rolling Plains and

Breaks Ecoregion• Crescent Lake,

Valentine NWR

Conserving birds and their habitats.

WY BCR 18 Strata

• BLM lands• DOD lands• All other lands

Conserving birds and their habitats.

NM BCR 18 Strata

• Soils• Alfisols• Aridosols• Entisols• Inceptisols• Mollisols• Vertisols• Rock Outcrop

• Rivers

Conserving birds and their habitats.

KS BCR 18 Strata

• Priority Conservation Areas

• Central High Tableland Ecoregion

• Cimarron N.G• Rivers

Conserving birds and their habitats.

KS BCR 19 Strata

• Priority Conservation Areas

• Rivers• All Other

Conserving birds and their habitats.

CO BCR 18 Strata

• Pawnee N.G• Comanche N.G• DOD lands• North of Platte R. • Platte River• Platte R. to I-70• I-70 to Arkansas R. • Arkansas River• South of Arkansas

River

Conserving birds and their habitats.

OK BCR 18 Strata

• Southern High Plains Northern Part Ecoregion (Private lands)

• Rita Blanca N.G.• Rivers

Conserving birds and their habitats.

OK BCR 19 Strata• Black Kettle N.G.• Ecoregions:

North Cross Timbers

Central Rolling Red Plains

Southern High Plains & Breaks

Central Rolling Red Prairies

Wichita Mtns• Rivers• USFWS

Conserving birds and their habitats.

TX BCR 18 Strata

• Rita Blanca N.G.• Ecoregions:

Southern High Plains N. Part

Southern High Plains S. Part

Edwards PlateauSouthern Desertic

Basins• Rivers• USFWS

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Integrating USNG Grids

• USFWS lands• Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge

– 250 meter USNG grids nesting in the 1km grids– Repeat visits– Same methods

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge

Conserving birds and their habitats.

TX BCR 19 Strata

• Ecoregions:

Southern High Plains Breaks

Central Rolling Plains Red Prairies

Central Rolling Plains W. Part

Edwards Plateau• Rivers

Conserving birds and their habitats.

• Collaboration• Shared costs among partners• Handles fluctuating funding• Ability to compare bird trend to habitat trend• Ability to compare local to regional results• Flexibility in stratification• All vegetation types available for sampling• Can be (is) used for other taxa

Benefits of Integrated Monitoring

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Questions?

Bill Schmoker

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Conservation products

• Density/Occupancy estimates• BCR/State level• Stratum level

• Habitat occupancies at multiple scales• Brewer’s Sparrow

• Maxent modeling• Grasshopper Sparrow• Chestnut-collared Longspur

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Analytical methods

Estimate detection probability and density• Distance sampling (Buckland et al. 2001)

• Removal sampling (Farnsworth et al. 2002)

Estimate detection probability and occupancy rate

• Combined Removal and Occupancy modeling (Pavlacky et al. in press)

Habitat modeling

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Results: Density and Abundance

Example: Brewer’s Sparrow

D N %CV n

Pawnee N.G 12.22 213,801 31 84

Comanche N.G 6.78 32,811 71 8

Colorado BCR 18 4.92 558,368 33 55

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Results: Site Occupancy

Example: Brewer’s Sparrow

Psi %CV n Tran

Pawnee N.G 0.222 63 2

Comanche N.G 0.293 61 2

Colorado BCR 18 0.253 28 15

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Habitat occupancy at multiple scales

• Can large-scale monitoring inform habitat management local scales?

• Local scale• Territory occupancy

• Habitat condition

• Habitat degradation

• Large scale• Regional occupancy

• Landscape context

• Habitat loss and fragmentation

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Brewer’s Sparrow (Spizella breweri)

• Southern Rockies / Colorado Plateau Bird Conservation Region (BCR 16)

• Sagebrush obligate

• Species of conservation concern

• BBS: 50% decline in 25 years

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Predicted distribution: BCR 16

Wyoming

ColoradoProbability of occupancy0.30 - 0.390.40 - 0.490.50 - 0.590.60 - 0.690.70 - 0.790.80 - 0.890.90 - 1.00

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Large-scale regional occupancy

Sagebrush area (%)

0 20 40 60 80 100

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Mean patch size of sagebrush (ha)

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Small-scale territory occupancy

Sagebrush cover (%)

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Tree canopy cover (%)

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Small-scale territory occupancy

Grass height (cm)

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Shrub height of all species (m)

0 1 2 3 4

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Conserving birds and their habitats.

South Dakota

Maximum Entropy Models

Conserving birds and their habitats.

South Dakota

Maximum Entropy Models

Conserving birds and their habitats.

Questions?

Jim Watson