Consequences of habitat fragmentation on prairie-chicken populations. Patten, Michael^*,1, Wolfe, Donald¹, Sherrod, Steve¹, ¹ Sutton Avian Research Center, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, USA

ABSTRACT- Consequences of habitat fragmentation on prairie-chicken populations Michael A. Patten, Donald H. Wolfe, and Steve K. Sherrod Sutton Avian Research Center University of Oklahoma P. O. Box 2007 Bartlesville, OK 74005 We combine our data on the Greater Prairie-Chicken, collected in northeastern Oklahoma from 1997 to 2000, and on the Lesser Prairie-Chicken, collected in northwestern Oklahoma and eastern New Mexico since 1999, to address how habitat fragmentation affects these species. Home range size is larger and movements greater in fragmented prairie, suggesting an energetic cost to decreased continuity. An additional cost may arise from increased mortality from collisions, whether with fences or other manmade objects. Increased mortality exacts additional, correlated costs, reflected in compensatory increases in annual fecundity. Lastly, fragmentation may occur in a more subtle manner, such as the reduction of shrub cover, rendering some habitat unsuitable or less suitable. Increased home range, increased mortality, and decreased access to high quality habitat present challenges for the population viability for both species. Moreover, traditional conservation and management practices may not, in themselves, do enough to allow prairie-chicken populations to persist.

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