Lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) populations have declined by >90% since the 1800s. These declines have concerned both biologists and private conservation groups and led to a petition to list the lesser prairie-chicken as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Most of the land in the current range of the lesser prairie-chicken is privately owned, and declines have been primarily attributed to anthropogenic factors. Conversion of native rangeland to cropland and excessive grazing have been implicated as leading causes in the species' decline. Periodic drought probably has exacerbated these problems. Little research on habitat requirements was conducted prior to 1970. Despite recent advances in the knowledge of lesser prairie-chicken ecology, no comprehensive guidelines for management of the species have been published. In these guidelines, we provide a synopsis of our current knowledge of lesser prairie-chicken habitat requirements and suggest management strategies to monitor, maintain, and enhance lesser prairie-chicken populations.

中文翻译：

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较少的草原土鸡种群及其栖息地管理指南。

自1800年代以来，小草原土鸡（Tympanuchus pallidicinctus）种群数量下降了90％以上。这些下降使生物学家和私人保护组织都感到担忧，并导致请愿书将受威胁的《濒危物种法》列为次要草原的小鸡列入清单。当前小草原-小鸡范围内的大部分土地均为私人所有，而下降的主要原因是人为因素。本地牧场转换为农田和过度放牧被认为是该物种减少的主要原因。周期性干旱可能加剧了这些问题。在1970年之前，很少有人进行栖息地需求的研究。尽管最近在较少的草原鸡生态学知识方面有了新的进展，尚未发布有关该物种管理的全面指南。在这些指南中，我们概述了我们目前对较小的草原鸡栖息地的要求，并提出了管理策略来监视，维护和增强较小的草原鸡种群。