Gregory Andrew J, Beck Jeffrey L
School of Earth, Environment and Society, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, United States of America.
Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2014 Jun 11;9(2):e97132. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0097132. eCollection 2014.
Landscape modification due to rapidly expanding energy development, in particular oil and gas, in the westernUSA, have prompted concerns over how such developments may impact wildlife. One species of conservation concern across much of the Intermountain West is the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercusurophasianus). Sage-grouse have been petitioned for listing under provisions of the Endangered Species Act 7 times and the state of Wyoming alone represents 64% of the extant sage-grouse population in the eastern portion of their range. Consequently, the relationship between sage-grouse populations and oil and gas development in Wyoming is an important component to managing the long-term viability of this species. We used 814 leks from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's lek survey database and well pad data from the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to evaluate changes in sage-grouse lek counts as a function of oil and gas development since 1991.From 1991-2011 we found that oil and gas well-pad density increased 3.6-fold across the state and was associated with a 24% decline in the number of male sage-grouse. Using a spatial and temporally structured analysis via Geographically Weighted Regression, we found a 1-to-4 year time lag between development density and lek decline. Sage-grouse also responded to development densities at multiple spatial neighborhoods surrounding leks, including broad scales of 10 km. However, sage-grouse lek counts do not always decline as a result of oil and gas development. We found similar development densities resulting in different sage-grouse lek count responses, suggesting that development density alone is insufficient to predict the impacts that oil and gas development have on sage-grouse. Finally, our analysis suggests a maximum development density of 1 well-pad within 2 km of leks to avoid measurable impacts within 1 year, and <6 well-pads within 10 km of leks to avoid delayed impacts.
美国西部因能源开发迅速扩张，尤其是石油和天然气开发，导致景观改变，引发了人们对这种开发活动可能如何影响野生动物的担忧。在整个山间西部大部分地区，一种受到保护关注的物种是艾草松鸡（Centrocercus urophasianus）。艾草松鸡已7次被申请根据《濒危物种法》进行列名，仅怀俄明州就占其分布范围东部现存艾草松鸡种群的64%。因此，怀俄明州艾草松鸡种群与石油和天然气开发之间的关系是管理该物种长期生存能力的一个重要组成部分。我们使用了怀俄明州鱼类和野生动物部门的求偶场调查数据库中的814个求偶场以及怀俄明州石油和天然气保护委员会的井场数据，来评估自1991年以来艾草松鸡求偶场数量随石油和天然气开发的变化情况。从1991年到2011年，我们发现全州石油和天然气井场密度增加了3.6倍，且与雄性艾草松鸡数量下降24%有关。通过地理加权回归进行空间和时间结构分析，我们发现开发密度与求偶场数量下降之间存在1到4年的时间滞后。艾草松鸡对求偶场周围多个空间邻域的开发密度也有反应，包括10公里的大尺度范围。然而，艾草松鸡求偶场数量并不总是因石油和天然气开发而下降。我们发现类似的开发密度导致了不同的艾草松鸡求偶场数量反应，这表明仅开发密度不足以预测石油和天然气开发对艾草松鸡的影响。最后，我们的分析表明，为避免在1年内产生可测量的影响，求偶场2公里范围内的最大开发密度为1个井场，为避免延迟影响，求偶场10公里范围内的井场数量应小于6个。
