U.S. Joint Fire Science Program

 

Date of this Version

2013

Document Type

Article

Citation

Final Report JFSP 12-4-01-5

Comments

US government work.

Abstract

Since 2001, we have collected data on occupancy and relative abundance of Greater Sage- Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and other species of breeding birds in the central Great Basin, and characterized the vegetation structure and composition of breeding birds’ habitats, through four projects supported by the Joint Fire Science Program (00-2-15, 01B-3-3-01, 05-2-1- 94, and 09-1-08-4). These projects collectively have generated dozens of refereed publications, dozens of invited papers or presentations, multiple M.S. theses and Ph.D. dissertations, and many workshops and field tours. Bird data included in refereed publications to date were based on point counts with a fixed radius of 75 or 100 m and a duration of 5 minutes per visit. These data previously were archived with the USDA Forest Service’s Research Data Archive. Since 2004, however, we also have conducted 100-m fixed-radius point counts with a duration of 8 minutes per visit. Furthermore, starting in 2002, we recorded birds detected beyond the fixed radius and during travel among point-count locations or at other times of day or night. We archived data on the incidental and longer-distance detections of birds, which included more than 22,600 records. We also archived all data on vegetation structure and the composition of dominant trees and shrubs collected through 2012. There are few sets of long-term, spatially extensive data on distributions and abundance of fauna or extensive characterizations of vegetation in the Great Basin. These data have considerable capacity to inform understanding and management of fire dynamics; changes in land cover, including conversion of native vegetation to cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum); and the status of species proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

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