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The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) is critical to avian conservation in the United States, both through its protection of migratory birds and as a catalyst for a century of coordinated avian conservation. While more than 1,000 species are protected by MBTA, of extant bird species native to the continental U.S., only 20 species belonging to the order Galliformes are explicitly excluded. Management of galliforms has occurred largely without direct federal oversight, placing this group on a fundamentally different conservation path during the century following MBTA passage. In this paper, we review the historical context and biological justification for exclusion of galliforms from MBTA and synthesize how their present-day conservation differs from that of migratory birds. We find the most prominent difference between the two groups involves the scope of coordination among stakeholders. The U.S. government, primarily via the Department of Interior, acts as de facto coordinating body for migratory bird conservation and plays the central role in oversight, funding, and administration of management in the United States. In contrast, galliform management falls primarily to individual state wildlife agencies, and coordinated conservation efforts have been more ad hoc and unevenly spread across species. Migratory birds benefit from an almost universally greater scope of research and monitoring, scale of habitat conservation, and sophistication of harvest management compared with galliforms. Galliform harvest management plans, in particular, are less likely to use measurable objectives, reporting of uncertainty in population parameters, and explanation of harvest management techniques. Based on a review of species status lists (e.g., the U.S. Endangered Species Act), we found no evidence that galliforms were more frequently listed than migratory species. Regional trend estimates from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) were more likely to be negative for galliforms over the period 1966-2015, but this was primarily driven by Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus). Data to assess galliform population status are generally poor, which complicates assessment for roughly half of galliform species. Increased support for coordination among state agencies and other stakeholders, similar to that applied to migratory birds, could help to ensure that galliform conservation is poised to tackle forthcoming challenges associated with global change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most seabirds breed colonially and exhibit considerable site fidelity over the course of their long lifespans. Initial colony selection can therefore have substantial fitness consequences, but factors contributing to recruitment into colonies and subsequent fidelity remain unclear. We used multi-state capture-recapture models to test several hypotheses related to apparent fledgling survival, probability of recruitment to natal colonies, and apparent post-recruitment survival in Black-legged Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla, using data from individuals banded as chicks and subsequently resighted at a colony in south-central Alaska over a 20-year period. Competitive models suggested that apparent fledgling survival declined throughout our study. This decline was likely driven by intrinsic, cohort-specific processes and was not explainable by post-fledging weather or climate conditions. Independent resightings at other colonies suggest the apparent decline may have been at least partially influenced by permanent emigration (natal dispersal), which occurred more frequently when the colony size was large. Recruitment was primarily age-dependent, with no detectable effects from early life experience or from annual changes in four factors: colony size, colony productivity, climate, or average weather conditions. We estimated an average recruitment age of seven years, which is older than typically reported for Atlantic kittiwake populations and which supports a more conservative life history strategy for kittiwakes in the Pacific. Variation in the apparent survival of recruits was cohort-specific and did not correlate with age or annual changes in the factors listed above. Instead, apparent survival of recruits was best explained by colony size during a cohort's second year, suggesting a degree of negative density dependence in post-recruitment survival or fidelity. This information could prove useful to managers deciding how to allocate resources among small, growing colonies and large, well-established colonies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predictive species distributional models are a cornerstone of wildlife conservation planning. Constructing such models requires robust underpinning science that integrates formerly disparate data types to achieve effective species management., Greater sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus, hereafter 'sage-grouse' populations are declining throughout sagebrush-steppe ecosystems in North America, particularly within the Great Basin, which heightens the need for novel management tools that maximize the use of available information., Herein, we improve upon existing species distribution models by combining information about sage-grouse habitat quality, distribution and abundance from multiple data sources. To measure habitat, we created spatially explicit maps depicting habitat selection indices ( HSI) informed by >35 500 independent telemetry locations from >1600 sage-grouse collected over 15 years across much of the Great Basin. These indices were derived from models that accounted for selection at different spatial scales and seasons. A region-wide HSI was calculated using the HSI surfaces modelled for 12 independent subregions and then demarcated into distinct habitat quality classes., We also employed a novel index to describe landscape patterns of sage-grouse abundance and space use ( AUI). The AUI is a probabilistic composite of the following: (i) breeding density patterns based on the spatial configuration of breeding leks and associated trends in male attendance; and (ii) year-round patterns of space use indexed by the decreasing probability of use with increasing distance to leks. The continuous AUI surface was then reclassified into two classes representing high and low/no use and abundance., Synthesis and applications. Using the example of sage-grouse, we demonstrate how the joint application of indices of habitat selection, abundance and space use derived from multiple data sources yields a composite map that can guide effective allocation of management intensity across multiple spatial scales. As applied to sage-grouse, the composite map identifies spatially explicit management categories within sagebrush steppe that are most critical to sustaining sage-grouse populations as well as those areas where changes in land use would likely have minimal impact. Importantly, collaborative efforts among stakeholders guide which intersections of habitat selection indices and abundance and space use classes are used to define management categories. Because sage-grouse are an umbrella species, our joint-index modelling approach can help target effective conservation for other sagebrush obligate species and can be readily applied to species in other ecosystems with similar life histories, such as central-placed breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]