Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative Monitoring Grid - PowerPoint Presentation

Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative Monitoring Grid Rob Sparks and David Hanni

Presentation Outline Current RMBO monitoring programsGPLCC standardized gridGPLCC landbird monitoring strata Conservation products

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

Our Objectives Provide a design framework to integrate bird monitoring efforts Precisely estimate distribution, density, site occupancy, population trends and species richness Provide habitat association data relevant to landscape changes Maintain a high-quality database, accessible online Create decision support tools to help guide conservation efforts

Bird Conservation Regions

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)

2010 Landbird Monitoring

Colorado Division of Wildlife Wyoming Game and Fish Department Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks USFS: 27 National Forests, 9 National Grasslands , 4 regions, 12 states BLM in 5 states National Park Service …(continued) Current Partnerships

Northern Great Plains Joint Venture Audubon Wyoming Wyoming Natural Diversity Database Montana Natural Heritage Program Idaho Bird Observatory Avian Science Center Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative Current Partnerships (cont.)

Sampling Design and Methods Sampling FrameSampling Units Sample Selection Sample Allocation (effort) Sampling Methods

Sampling Frame: BCRs

Sampling Units 1 km 2 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, …)

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

Minimum of 2 samples required/stratum Recommend 10 Determined by funding partnersMay vary annually Sample Allocation

Example: Base Sample in BCR 18

Additional Samples in Colorado

Additional Samples - Comanche NG

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 heardRecord species and sex for each observation

Questions? Jeff Jones

GPLCC Monitoring Grid Objectives Create a standardized monitoring gridUSNG or MGRSDevelop long term bird monitoring strata for GPLCCGrid attributesSelect samples Spatially balanced sampling GRTS function in R

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

GPLCC Monitoring Grid The need for a monitoring framework at the regional levelSpatial context for statistical inferences and predictionsUSNG Monitoring GridBiologists can use grid to monitor a variety of taxa at multiple scales Key grid elements: spatial extent, datum/projection, scalability, standards

US National Grid (USNG) USNG identified as a potential standard for monitoring populations at regional levelsDeveloped by FGDC for emergency response coordination1-km square grid cells Contains key elements for a proper monitoring grid (national coverage, commonly used datum/projection, scalable)

USNG (cont.) Based on the NAD 83 geographic coordinate systemUniversal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projectionSimilar to the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS)MGRS uses WGS 84 datumCovers the entire United States MGRS worldwide coverage

USNG Scalability The unique addressing system for the USNG allows scalability from 100,000-km square to 1-m square. Labeling systemUTM Zone Designation. 100,000-meter square designation USNG: unique grid coordinates for a 1-km square Eastings / NorthingsEach 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)

USNG Issues Zipper effect: Cells along UTM zone junctions are smaller than 1-km square. Only affects 0.33% of grid cells in GPLCCCauses sampling problems; may bias estimatesMany possible solutions Remove zipper cells Merge zipper cells to adjacent cells Overlap zone junction cells

Zipper Effect

Zipper Effect Solution: Merge Cells Merged cells smaller than 0.95-km square into their adjacent cellsEqual probability of being selectedNo gaps or overlap I f selected for sampling, a 1-km square will be randomly placed inside cell

Grid Attribution We used GIS to attribute GPLCC gridNRCS SoilsNRCS Major Land Resource Areas (ecoregions) Federally owned or managed lands National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) Strahler orderUSFS proclaimed boundariesNebraska: Biologically Unique LandscapesPriority Conservation Areas

Final Product ArcGIS geodatabaseGrid datasets established by UTM zone, State, and BCRLocation of cell centroid Naming convention: “ STATE_USNG_UTMxx_BCRxx ” Example: CO_USNG_UTM13_BCR18

Benefits of a standardized grid Same starting pointSpatial continuity across different projectsDecrease project costs, necessary labor, and duplicate sampling effortsNo need to create multiple grids for multiple projects

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 programsFLAM surveys across western US Bat surveys USFS Grouse Surveys CDOW

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

GPLCC Stratification Strata based on GIS layers:NRCS Ecoregions SoilsFederal Land Ownership Rivers ( Strahler order) Biologically Unique Landscapes (NE) Priority Conservation Areas

NE BCR 18 Strata Pine Ridge BULWildcat Hills BULNiobrara RiverOglala N.GAgate Fossil Beds N.M

NE BCR 19 Strata Rainwater BasinLoess Uplands EcoregionNiobrara RiverNebraska Sand Hills Ecoregion Rolling Plains and Breaks Ecoregion Crescent Lake, Valentine NWR

WY BCR 18 Strata BLM landsDOD landsAll other lands

NM BCR 18 Strata SoilsAlfisolsAridosolsEntisols Inceptisols Mollisols Vertisols Rock Outcrop Rivers

KS BCR 18 Strata Priority Conservation Areas Central High Tableland EcoregionCimarron N.GRivers

KS BCR 19 Strata Priority Conservation Areas RiversAll Other

CO BCR 18 Strata Pawnee N.GComanche N.GDOD landsNorth of Platte R. Platte River Platte R. to I-70 I-70 to Arkansas R. Arkansas River South of Arkansas River

OK BCR 18 Strata Southern High Plains Northern Part Ecoregion (Private lands)Rita Blanca N.G.Rivers

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 MtnsRiversUSFWS

TX BCR 18 Strata Rita Blanca N.G.Ecoregions:Southern High Plains N. Part Southern High Plains S. Part Edwards Plateau Southern Desertic BasinsRiversUSFWS

Integrating USNG Grids USFWS landsMuleshoe National Wildlife Refuge250 meter USNG grids nesting in the 1km gridsRepeat visitsSame methods

Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge

TX BCR 19 Strata Ecoregions:Southern High Plains BreaksCentral Rolling Plains Red PrairiesCentral Rolling Plains W. Part Edwards Plateau Rivers

Collaboration Shared costs among partnersHandles 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

Questions? Bill Schmoker

Conservation products Density/Occupancy estimatesBCR/State levelStratum levelHabitat occupancies at multiple scalesBrewer’s Sparrow Maxent modeling Grasshopper Sparrow Chestnut-collared Longspur

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

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

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

Habitat occupancy at multiple scales Can large-scale monitoring inform habitat management local scales?Local scaleTerritory occupancy Habitat condition Habitat degradation Large scale Regional occupancy Landscape contextHabitat loss and fragmentation

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

Predicted distribution: BCR 16 Wyoming Colorado Probability of occupancy 0.30 - 0.39 0.40 - 0.49 0.50 - 0.59 0.60 - 0.69 0.70 - 0.79 0.80 - 0.89 0.90 - 1.00

Large-scale regional occupancy

Small-scale territory occupancy

Small-scale territory occupancy

South Dakota Maximum Entropy Models

South Dakota Maximum Entropy Models

Questions? Jim Watson