Southern White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura altipetens) Population Assessment and Conservation Considerations in Colorado

Southern White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura altipetens) Population Assessment and Conservation Considerations in Colorado

Status of the southern white-tailed ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura altipetens) in Colorado was assessed from 2013-2017 using a number of metrics to determine trends in abundance, survival, site fidelity, reproductive success, resource selection, and genetic structure. The species inhabits naturally fragmented alpine habitats that have been, and are currently impacted by anthropogenic threats that predominantly include climate change, sheep grazing, hunting, mining, and recreation. Fine-scale genetic structure was apparent between the San Juan Mountains (South population), and those in the central and northern mountain ranges (North population). Though some isolated pockets of white-tailed ptarmigan reside in the state (i.e., Flat Tops and Sangre de Cristo), there is adequate gene flow across Colorado to maintain high genetic diversity with currently no indications of severe effects of small population sizes.

Seglund, Amy

Street, Phillip A.

Aagaard, Kevin

Runge, Jon

Flenner, Michelle

Southern white-tailed ptarmigan

Colorado

Population assessment

Conservation

152 pages

2018

Text

application/pdf

English

Colorado Parks and Wildlife