There is an urgent need to understand ecological responses of avian species to the rapidly expanding human footprint of conventional and renewable energy development in sagebrush and prairie ecosystems. The ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) and golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) are two sympatric raptors of conservation concern that occupy and flourish in the most intact sagebrush steppe region remaining in North America. To understand these species’ use of habitat relative to energy development, we built resource selection functions using a spatially representative sample of occupied nesting territories collected in 2010–2011 and remotely sensed environmental variables across an extensive study area (186,693 km²). We used the resulting predicted resource selection maps to evaluate spatial overlap between the nesting habitats of these sympatric raptor species, as well as overlap of predicted habitat with potential development of oil/gas and wind energy resources. Remotely sensed variables were very effective in modeling patterns of nest‐site selection based on fivefold cross‐validation (>0.93 Spearman‐rank correlation) and validation with an independent dataset of historical nests collected from 2000 to 2009. Topographic roughness and intermediate levels of spring precipitation were the strongest drivers of differences in habitat use between ferruginous hawks and golden eagles. We did not detect a strong signal of avoidance of energy infrastructure by either species at current levels of development and both nested closer than expected to gravel/dirt roads associated with oil and gas infrastructure. However, extensive overlap of nesting habitat more selected by ferruginous hawks and golden eagles with areas of actual and potential energy development suggests both species are at risk from future habitat fragmentation. Given that 80% of nests are> 1 km from oil/gas wells, we believe the density of energy‐related disturbance present during our study was insufficient to drive patterns of resource selection for ferruginous hawks when considered at broad spatial scales. However, it was beyond the scope of our study to predict long‐term, population‐level responses. We suggest rigorous monitoring of long‐term trends in occupancy, productivity, and distribution is warranted for populations of ferruginous hawk and golden eagle in sagebrush and prairie ecosystems exposed to increased energy development.

中文翻译：

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尖头猛禽的资源选择：鼠尾草和草原生态系统中选址能源发展的意义

迫切需要了解禽类对鼠尾草和草原生态系统中常规和可再生能源发展的人类足迹的迅速增长的生态反应。铁质的鹰（Buteo regalis）和金鹰（Aquila chrysaetos）是两个受到保护的同伴猛禽，它们在北美地区保存最完整的鼠尾草草原地区盛行。为了了解这些物种相对于能源开发所利用的栖息地，我们使用空间代表性的样本（2010年至2011年收集）并在广泛的研究区域（186,693 km ²）。我们使用生成的预测资源选择图来评估这些同伴猛禽物种的嵌套栖息地之间的空间重叠，以及预测栖息地与油气和风能资源的潜在发展的重叠。遥感变量在基于五重交叉验证（> 0.93 Spearman-rank相关性）的巢址选择模型建模中非常有效，并使用独立的2000年至2009年历史巢数据集进行了验证。地形粗糙度和春季的中间水平降水是铁鹰和金鹰之间栖息地使用差异的最强驱动力。在当前的发展水平上，我们都没有发现任何一个物种避开能源基础设施的强烈信号，并且它们都嵌套在与油气基础设施相关的碎石/土路比预期的更近的位置。但是，由铁鹰和金鹰更多选择的筑巢生境与实际和潜在的能源开发区域广泛重叠，表明这两种物种都面临着未来生境破碎化的危险。鉴于80％的巢穴距油气井> 1公里，因此我们认为，在较宽的空间范围内进行研究时，与能源有关的干扰密度不足以驱动铁质鹰的资源选择方式。但是，预测长期人群水平的反应超出了我们的研究范围。