Context Development of systematic methods for conservation planning has improved effectiveness and efficiency of implementing such plans. The lesser prairie-chicken ( Tympanuchus pallidicinctus ) is a grouse species of conservation concern native to the southwestern Great Plains of the United States. Recent lesser prairie-chicken conservation planning has involved identifying ecologically important areas but has not incorporated economic data into prioritization of areas to target for conservation management. Objectives We used the program Marxan to develop a decision-support tool for managers in Kansas to prioritize tracts for improving lesser prairie-chicken habitat quality and increasing habitat availability. We developed three different conservation scenarios and evaluated the tradeoffs among multiple planning objectives in these scenarios. Methods We incorporated population targets from an existing conservation plan and agricultural economic data to help select land with maximum ecological value and minimum economic productivity to prioritize for lesser prairie-chicken conservation. We compared potential conservation plans and incorporated a post hoc connectivity model to test potential for individuals to travel among habitat patches in these plans during dispersal events. Results We found that different conservation scenarios led to different solutions, though differences varied by ecoregion. Potential solutions for all scenarios contained habitat patches not currently included in existing conservation plans and had high connectivity potential. Conclusions These results provide context for spatial prioritization of lesser prairie-chicken habitat management in Kansas. Application of this approach to species of conservation interest could help managers incorporate socioeconomic factors into planning methods and identify important tracts for conservation currently overlooked by existing planning methods.

中文翻译：

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一种决策支持工具，用于优先考虑较小草原鸡保护的候选景观

背景 保护规划系统方法的开发提高了实施此类计划的有效性和效率。小草原鸡 ( Tympanuchus pallidicinctus ) 是一种原产于美国大平原西南部的受保护的松鸡物种。最近的小草原鸡保护规划涉及确定生态重要区域，但没有将经济数据纳入保护管理目标区域的优先顺序。目标我们使用Marxan 程序为堪萨斯州的管理人员开发了一个决策支持工具，以优先考虑改善小草原鸡栖息地质量和增加栖息地可用性的区域。我们开发了三种不同的保护方案，并评估了这些方案中多个规划目标之间的权衡。方法 我们将现有保护计划中的人口目标和农业经济数据结合起来，帮助选择具有最大生态价值和最低经济生产力的土地，优先考虑较少的草原鸡保护。我们比较了潜在的保护计划，并结合了事后连通性模型来测试个体在扩散事件期间在这些计划中的栖息地斑块之间旅行的可能性。结果 我们发现，不同的保护方案导致了不同的解决方案，尽管差异因生态区域而异。所有场景的潜在解决方案都包含目前未包含在现有保护计划中的栖息地斑块，并且具有很高的连通性潜力。结论 这些结果为堪萨斯州小草原鸡栖息地管理的空间优先级提供了背景。