Grouse--an ecologically important group of birds that include capercaillie, prairie chickens, and ptarmigan--are distributed throughout the forests, grasslands, and tundra of Europe, Asia, and North America. Today, many grouse populations are in decline, and the conservation and management of these charismatic birds is becoming a global concern.
This volume summarizes current knowledge of grouse biology in 25 chapters contributed by 80 researchers from field studies around the world. Organized in four sections--Spatial Ecology, Habitat Relationships, Population Biology, and Conservation and Management--the chapters offer important insights into spatial requirements, movements, and demography of grouse. Much of the research employs emerging tools in ecology that span biogeochemistry, molecular genetics, endocrinology, radio-telemetry, and remote sensing.
The chapters explore topics including the impacts of climate change, energy development, and harvest, and give new evidence for life-history changes in response to human activities.
Contributors
Preface
1. Spatial Ecology
- Spatially Explicit Habitat Models For Prairie Grouse
- Hierarchical Modeling Of Lek Habitats Of Greater Prairie-Chickens
- Estimating Lek Occurrence and Density For Sharp-Tailed Grouse
- Home Range Size and Movements Of Greater Prairie-Chickens
- Impacts Of Anthropogenic Features on Habitat Use By Lesser Prairie-Chickens
- Landscape Fragmentation and Non-Breeding Greater Sage-Grouse
- Natal Dispersal Affects Population Dynamics Of Hazel Grouse in Heterogeneous Landscapes
2. Habitat Relationships
- Nesting Success and Resource Selection Of Greater Sage-Grouse
- Use Of Dwarf Sagebrush By Nesting Greater Sage-Grouse
- Modeling Nest and Brood Habitats Of Greater Sage-Grouse
- Linking Habitat Selection and Brood Success in Greater Sage-Grouse
- Resource Selection During Brood-Rearing by Greater Sage-Grouse
- Habitat Selection and Brood Survival Of Greater Prairie-Chickens
3. Population Biology
- Testosterone Mediates Mating Success in Greater Prairie-Chickens
- Reproductive Biology of a Southern Population Of Greater Prairie-Chickens
- Regional Variation in Nesting Success of Lesser Prairie-Chickens
- Mechanisms Underlying Variation in Renesting Ability of Willow Ptarmigan
- Chick Survival of Greater Prairie-Chickens
- Human-Mediated Selection on Life-History Traits of Greater Prairie-Chickens
- Demographic Traits of Two Alpine Populations of Rock Ptarmigan
4. Conservation and Management
- Effects of Climate Change on Nutrition and Genetics of White-Tailed Ptarmigan
- Effects Of Translocation on Behavior of Island Ptarmigan
- Hunting Lowers Population Size in Greater Sage-Grouse
- Spatial-Temporal Variation in Survival Of Harvested Greater Sage-Grouse
- Adaptive Harvest Management and Harvest Mortality Of Greater Prairie-Chickens
Brett K. Sandercock is Associate Professor in the Division of Biology at Kansas State University.
Kathy Martin is Professor in the Department of Forest Sciences and Director of the Centre for Alpine Studies at the University of British Columbia.
Gernot Segelbacher is Lecturer at the University of Freiburg in Germany.