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Importance of North America's Grasslands

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Importance of North America's Grasslands IMPORTANCE OF NORTH AMERICA’S GRASSLANDS TO BIRDS by PETER BLANCHER for the COMMISSION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION MAY 2003 PREFACE Considered the largest of the vegetation formations found in North America, the grassland ecosystem is the only continuous terrestrial ecosystem linking Canada, the United States and Mexico. Yet within the last 150 years relentless exploitation has turned this into the most threatened ecosystem of the region. Furthermore, the challenge of conserving this ecosystem is not only regional but global, since grasslands are also considered worldwide among the most imperiled ecosystems.1 The severe degree of loss of this ecosystem throughout North America is reflected in numerous ways at the species level. In the 19th century with the almost total annihilation of the tens of millions of bisons, heralding the end of an era of Native American prairie cultures whose livelihood depended on this species. The decline of grasslands species is still present–as expressed by the steady reduction, in the last 35 years, of the population of most grassland bird species. Recent studies, including this one prepared by Birds Studies Canada’s Pete Blancher, have shown that, as a group, avian grassland species have been more subject to population declines than any other group in any other ecosystem in North America. In this context, the central grasslands of North America offer a unique opportunity for cooperation to conserve our shared natural endowment from the species to the ecosystem level. What started in the year 2000 as an initiative prompted by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) www.cec.org aimed at the recovery and conservation of a portfolio of species of common concern2, soon turned into a comprehensive effort looking into the major drivers that threaten these species and their habitat, highlighting the need for an ecosystem approach. The latter is manifest in the recently published “Grasslands: Toward a North American Conservation Strategy.” 3 The present study “Importance of North America’s Grasslands to Birds” forms part of an overall CEC effort to help develop a cogent ecosystem approach related to species´ conservation by assisting individuals, institutions and organizations to become aware of their role in “the big picture” and to better realize their potential to collaborate. All in all, this approach aims to facilitate coordination among regional multi-stakeholder efforts and to allocate their resources in a more effective way pursuant their conservation and sustainable use goals. Through this report, the CEC is honoured to support Birds Studies Canada’s series of landmark continental bird assessments. The seminal idea of this work benefited greatly from the insights provided by Dr. Art Martell. Hans Herrmann, Head, Biodiversity Program Jürgen Hoth, Program Manger, Biodiversity Program North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) 1 WRI, 2000. Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems: Grassland Ecosystems. World Resources Institute. 2 The complete list of species of common conservation concern (SCCC) can be found in www.cec.org/files/PDF/BIODIVERSITY/SCCC-Web-e_EN.PDF 3 See www.cec.org/pubs_docs/documents/index.cfm?varlan=english&ID=1246 1 INTRODUCTION North America’s grasslands are a special place for birds and other wildlife. Our intent with this project is to provide information to substantiate this view, for birds. Our specific objectives in this report are: • to use bird survey data and range maps to measure and illustrate the importance of the central grasslands to the North American avifauna; and • to demonstrate the interdependency of Canada, Mexico and the United States for the yearly life cycle of migratory birds SCOPE The project focuses on the contiguous central short-grass/mixed-grass prairie ecosystem ranging from Canada to Mexico (Fig. 1), defined by the following 5 Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs): BCR 11 - the Prairie Potholes, BCR 17 - Badlands & Prairies, BCR 18 - the Shortgrass Prairie, BCR 19 - the Central Mixed Grass Prairie, and BCR 35 - the Chihuahuan Desert (Fig. 2). Figure 1: Extent of the central grasslands in North America 2 Figure 2: Bird Conservation Regions making up the central grasslands GRASSLAND ASSOCIATED BIRDS Which species of birds are of most closely associated with the central grasslands, during breeding and/or winter seasons? To answer this question we relied on a combination of range maps and bird survey data. NatureServe digital range maps provide the simplest way to identify species using the central grasslands. For example, it is clear from range maps that Worthen’s Sparrow is heavily reliant on grasslands in northern Mexico year-round (Fig. 3). Figure 3: Range maps of 2 grassland associated species (adapted from NatureServe maps). 3 We calculated the proportion of breeding, wintering and year-round range in the central grasslands, for all species with any range in the grasslands. For example, Spraque’s Pipit has a high proportion of both breeding and winter range in the central grasslands, though it is a migrant (Fig. 3). But range maps can be a misleading indication of distribution. For example, Lapland Longspur winter range is very broad (Fig. 4), with only 27% of Western Hemisphere range in the central grasslands. Christmas Bird Counts show (Fig.5), however, that this species tends to be much more concentrated in winter, with an estimated 90% of western hemisphere birds wintering in the central grasslands (averaged across 8 years of winter counts in the 1990s). Figure 4: Lapland Longspur range map (from NatureServe) Figure 5: Lapland Longspur abundance on Christmas Bird Counts (from BirdSource) So it is useful to use abundance data where they are available. 4 We used Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data to estimate proportions of breeding population in the Canadian and U.S. parts of the grasslands. There is very good BBS coverage in the U.S. and Canadian grasslands (Fig. 6). Range maps were used to estimate proportion of breeding population in Mexico. Figure 6: Grasslands coverage by Breeding Bird Survey routes Christmas Bird Counts were used to estimate proportion of winter populations in the U.S. and Canadian parts of the grasslands. There is reasonably good coverage of grasslands in U.S. and Canada (Fig. 7). Again, winter range maps were used for Mexico. Figure 7: Grasslands coverage by Christmas Bird Counts 5 NUMBER OF GRASSLAND BIRD SPECIES A large number of species make use of the grasslands - 536 species have at least some population in the grasslands (Table 1). Number of Grassland Species % of Any Year- Population Season Breeding Winter Round any 536 484 457 405 >1% 394 330 323 261 >25% 128 105 62 39 >50% 42 39 14 11 Table 1: Numbers of bird species in the grasslands by season Numbers of species are spread realtively evenly across the grasslands during the breeding season, with a tendency for lower numbers of species in the central portions (Fig. 8). In winter, species richness shifts to the south, so that there is a strong north-south gradient in species richness across the grasslands. Figure 8: Distribution of grassland species richness, by season Over 100 species are estimated to have 25% or more of their population in the grasslands in at least one season, with almost a third of those making significant use of the grasslands year- round. Fourty-two species are estimated to be highly dependant on the grasslands for at least 50% of their population (Table 1). 6 Birds that are highly dependant on the central grasslands throughout the year are listed in Table 2; these are mainly sparrows and upland game birds. Several are resident species, but a few are also migratory. All are landbirds. Grassland-Dependant: Year-Round Species Resident Breeding Winter Lesser Prairie-Chicken Tympanuchus pallidicinctus 100% Greater Prairie-Chicken Tympanuchus cupido 90% Sharp-tailed Grouse Tympanuchus phasianellus 83% Worthen's Sparrow Spizella wortheni 71% Scaled Quail Callipepla squamata 67% Maroon-fronted Parrot Rhynchopsitta terrisi 54% Baird's Sparrow Ammodramus bairdii >99% 65% Chestnut-collared Longspur Calcarius ornatus 99% 55% Lark Bunting Calamospiza melanocorys 94% 56% McCown's Longspur Calcarius mccownii 78% 85% Cave Swallow Petrochelidon fulva 68% 86% Table 2: Species dependant on the grasslands year-round The Greater Prairie-Chicken is an example of a resident species that is largely confined to the central grasslands (Fig. 9). While the Chestnut-collared Longspur migrates between the northern and southern portions of the grasslands. Figure 9: Range maps of two species dependant on the grasslands year-round (see also Figure 3) A larger number of grassland-dependant birds are mainly reliant on the central grasslands for breeding (Table 3). These birds are a much more diverse taxonomic group, and it is clear that during the breeding season, the grasslands is important to several shorebirds, waterfowl and waterbirds in addition to migratory landbirds. 7 Grassland-Dependant: Breeding Season Species Breeding Winter Sprague's Pipit Anthus spragueii 96% 34% Colima Warbler Vermivora crissalis 94% 0% Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa 84% 0% Upland Sandpiper Bartramia longicauda 83% 0% Mountain Plover Charadrius montanus 79% 29% Blue-winged Teal Anas discors 77% 11% Swainson's Hawk Buteo swainsoni 76% 0% Mississippi Kite Ictinia mississippiensis 74% 0% Cassin's Sparrow Aimophila cassinii 72% 37% Western Meadowlark Sturnella neglecta 72% 26% Grasshopper Sparrow Ammodramus savannarum 69% 13% Piping Plover Charadrius melodus 66% 0% Chihuahuan
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