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Landscape genetic evaluation of a tallgrass prairie corridor using the Greater Prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido)

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Abstract

Context

We studied current functional connectivity along a developing grassland corridor in the Midwestern U.S. and focused on connectivity for Greater Prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus cupido). Greater Prairie-chickens are an area-sensitive species that rely on grasslands and are an indicator species for the tallgrass prairie ecosystem in North America. The coordinated multi-agency Prairie Landscape Conservation Plan is one of the largest planned and implemented conservation corridors in the U.S., making this system ideal to examine factors associated with corridor functionality.

Objectives

We examined landscape functional connectivity and factors that impact genetic structure and gene flow of Greater Prairie-chickens to identify gaps in a planned prairie corridor that is currently being implemented.

Methods

We collected feathers from 81 leks and obtained 31 hunter-harvested wings. We used a landscape genetic approach to evaluate eight hypotheses to explain functional connectivity and examine impacts of land cover and land use on isolation and genetic structure.

Results

Two populations were most supported based on 294 unique genotypes. Functional connectivity was influenced by land use, land cover, and anthropogenic development. Good connectivity exists within the Greater Prairie-chicken range, but improvements along the corridor in the northern portion of the extant range would be beneficial.

Conclusions

We produced geographically specific recommendations as to where land management can potentially achieve the greatest impact. Our results help prioritize areas for ongoing conservation efforts, like prairie acquisition, restoration, and enhancement. Furthermore, identification of factors influencing connectivity in our study can be applied to improve conservation planning elsewhere in the tallgrass prairie ecosystem.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Nelson of MNDNR for his assistance early on with project conception and for organizing hunter submissions. We would also like to thank cooperators involved with prairie-chicken surveys and feather collection efforts including MNDNR staff; cooperators with The Nature Conservancy; Minnesota Prairie Chicken Society, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and numerous additional volunteers including S. Bommersbach, D. Svedarsky, D. Wells, T. Wolfe, J. Fejszes, K. Spaeth, T. Kucera, J. Forgit, and D. Hedtke. C. Wilson and S. Crosby collected prairie-chicken feathers in 2015. Wildlife Genetics International Lab completed genetic analyses. Finally, we would like to thank the hunters that submitted wings for this study. This project was funded in part by the Wildlife Restoration (Pittman-Robertson) Program Grant W-71-R-4. M. Larson and 4 anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on this manuscript.

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  1. Forest Wildlife Populations and Research Group, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 1201 East Highway 2, Grand Rapids, MN, 55744, USA

    Charlotte L. Roy

  2. Department of the Environment and Sustainability, Bowling Green State University, 190 Overman Hall, Bowling Green, OH, 43402, USA

    Andrew J. Gregory

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Roy, C.L., Gregory, A.J. Landscape genetic evaluation of a tallgrass prairie corridor using the Greater Prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido). Landscape Ecol 34, 1425–1443 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00862-3

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