| nest success of gunnison sage-grouse in colorado, usa. | gunnison sage-grouse (centrocercus minimus) is a species of concern for which little demographic information exists. to help fill this information gap, we investigated factors affecting nest success in two populations of gunnison sage-grouse. we assessed the relative effects of (1) vegetation characteristics (e.g., shrub height, shrub cover, grass cover, and grass height), (2) temporal factors (e.g., year, timing of incubation initiation, and nest age), (3) precipitation, and (4) age of the nest ... | 2015 | 26287996 |
| captive-rearing of gunnison sage-grouse from egg collection to adulthood to foster proactive conservation and recovery of a conservation-reliant species. | gunnison sage-grouse (centrocercus minimus) are distributed across southwestern colorado and southeastern utah, united states. their distribution has decreased over the past century and the species has been listed as threatened by the u.s. fish and wildlife service. reduced genetic diversity, small population size, and isolation may affect gunnison sage-grouse population persistence. population augmentation can be used to counteract or mitigate these issues, but traditional translocation efforts ... | 2015 | 26105557 |
| captive-breeding of captive and wild-reared gunnison sage-grouse. | gunnison sage-grouse (centrocercus minimus) distribution in north america has decreased over historical accounts and has received federal protection under the endangered species act. we investigated captive-breeding of a captive-flock of gunnison sage-grouse created from individuals reared in captivity from wild-collected eggs we artificially incubated. we also introduced wild-reared individuals into captivity. our captive-flock successfully bred and produced fertile eggs. we controlled the timi ... | 2016 | 26598960 |
| an integrated modeling approach to estimating gunnison sage-grouse population dynamics: combining index and demographic data. | evaluation of population dynamics for rare and declining species is often limited to data that are sparse and/or of poor quality. frequently, the best data available for rare bird species are based on large-scale, population count data. these data are commonly based on sampling methods that lack consistent sampling effort, do not account for detectability, and are complicated by observer bias. for some species, short-term studies of demographic rates have been conducted as well, but the data fro ... | 2014 | 25540687 |
| z chromosome divergence, polymorphism and relative effective population size in a genus of lekking birds. | sex chromosomes contribute disproportionately to species boundaries as they diverge faster than autosomes and often have reduced diversity. their hemizygous nature contributes to faster divergence and reduced diversity, as do some types of selection. in birds, other factors (mating system and bottlenecks) can further decrease the effective population size of z-linked loci and accelerate divergence (fast-z). we assessed z-linked divergence and effective population sizes for two polygynous sage-gr ... | 2015 | 26014526 |
| seasonal drought in north america's sagebrush biome structures dynamic mesic resources for sage-grouse. | the north american semi-arid sagebrush, artemisia spp., biome exhibits considerable climatic complexity driving dynamic spatiotemporal shifts in primary productivity. greater and gunnison sage-grouse, centrocercus urophasianus and c. minimus, are adapted to patterns of resource intermittence and rely on stable adult survival supplemented by occasional recruitment pulses when climatic conditions are favorable. predictions of intensifying water scarcity raise concerns over new demographic bottlene ... | 2018 | 30619560 |
| conservation genomics in the sagebrush sea: population divergence, demographic history, and local adaptation in sage-grouse (centrocercus spp.). | sage-grouse are two closely related iconic species of the north american west, with historically broad distributions across sagebrush-steppe habitat. both species are dietary specialists on sagebrush during winter, with presumed adaptations to tolerate the high concentrations of toxic secondary metabolites that function as plant chemical defenses. marked range contraction and declining population sizes since european settlement have motivated efforts to identify distinct population genetic varia ... | 2019 | 31135036 |
| signatures of adaptive divergence among populations of an avian species of conservation concern. | understanding the genetic underpinning of adaptive divergence among populations is a key goal of evolutionary biology and conservation. gunnison sage-grouse (centrocercus minimus) is a sagebrush obligate species with a constricted range consisting of seven discrete populations, each with distinctly different habitat and climatic conditions. though geographically close, populations have low levels of natural gene flow resulting in relatively high levels of differentiation. here, we use 15,033 snp ... | 2019 | 31462921 |
| an empirical comparison of population genetic analyses using microsatellite and snp data for a species of conservation concern. | use of genomic tools to characterize wildlife populations has increased in recent years. in the past, genetic characterization has been accomplished with more traditional genetic tools (e.g., microsatellites). the explosion of genomic methods and the subsequent creation of large snp datasets has led to the promise of increased precision in population genetic parameter estimates and identification of demographically and evolutionarily independent groups, as well as questions about the future usef ... | 2020 | 32487020 |
| rapid microsatellite identification from illumina paired-end genomic sequencing in two birds and a snake. | identification of microsatellites, or simple sequence repeats (ssrs), can be a time-consuming and costly investment requiring enrichment, cloning, and sequencing of candidate loci. recently, however, high throughput sequencing (with or without prior enrichment for specific ssr loci) has been utilized to identify ssr loci. the direct "seq-to-ssr" approach has an advantage over enrichment-based strategies in that it does not require a priori selection of particular motifs, or prior knowledge of ge ... | 2012 | 22348032 |
| two low coverage bird genomes and a comparison of reference-guided versus de novo genome assemblies. | as a greater number and diversity of high-quality vertebrate reference genomes become available, it is increasingly feasible to use these references to guide new draft assemblies for related species. reference-guided assembly approaches may substantially increase the contiguity and completeness of a new genome using only low levels of genome coverage that might otherwise be insufficient for de novo genome assembly. we used low-coverage (∼3.5-5.5x) illumina paired-end sequencing to assemble draft ... | 2014 | 25192061 |