The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has the potential to influence the distribution and abundance of grasslands in many agricultural landscapes, and thereby provide habitat for grassland‐dependent wildlife. Greater prairie‐chickens (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus) are a grassland‐dependent species with large area requirements and have been used as an indicator of grassland ecosystem function; they are also a species of conservation concern across much of their range. Greater prairie‐chicken populations respond to the amount and configuration of grasslands and wetlands in agriculturally dominated landscapes, which in turn can be influenced by the CRP; however, CRP enrollments and enrollment caps have declined from previous highs. Therefore, prioritizing CRP reenrollments and new enrollments to achieve the greatest benefit for grassland‐dependent wildlife seems prudent. We used models relating either lek density or the number of males at leks to CRP enrollments and the resulting landscape structure to predict changes in greater prairie‐chicken abundance related to changes in CRP enrollments. We simulated 3 land‐cover scenarios: expiration of existing CRP enrollments, random, small‐parcel (4,040 m²) addition of CRP grasslands, and strategic, large‐parcel (80,000 m²) addition of CRP grasslands. Large‐parcel additions were the average enrollment size in northwestern Minnesota, USA, within the context of a regional prairie restoration plan. In our simulations of CRP enrollment expirations, the abundance of greater prairie‐chickens declined when grassland landscape contiguity declined with loss of CRP enrollments. Simulations of strategic CRP enrollment with large parcels to increase grassland contiguity more often increased greater prairie‐chicken abundance than random additions of the same area in small parcels that did not increase grassland contiguity. In some cases, CRP enrollments had no or a negative predicted change in greater prairie‐chicken abundance because they provided insufficient grassland contiguity on the landscape, or increased cover‐type fragmentation. Predicted greater prairie‐chicken abundance increased under large‐parcel and small‐parcel scenarios of addition of CRP grassland; the greatest increases were associated with large‐parcel additions. We suggest that strategic application of the CRP to improve grassland contiguity can benefit greater prairie‐chicken populations more than an opportunistic approach lacking consideration of the larger landscape context. Strategic implementation of the CRP can benefit greater prairie‐chicken populations in northwestern Minnesota, and likely elsewhere in landscapes where grassland continuity may be a limiting factor. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

中文翻译：

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模拟CRP的战略实施，以增加草原鸡的数量

保护储备计划（CRP）有可能影响许多农业景观中草地的分布和丰富度，从而为依赖草地的野生动植物提供栖息地。大草原土鸡（鼓膜cupido pinnatus）是一种草原依赖物种，具有较大的面积需求，已被用作草原生态系统功能的指标; 在整个范围内，它们也是一个值得关注的物种。在农业主导的景观中，更多的草原养鸡种群对草地和湿地的数量和配置产生反应，这反过来可能会受到CRP的影响；但是，CRP的注册人数和注册上限已从之前的高位下降。因此，优先考虑CRP重新注册和新注册，以使依赖草地的野生动物获得最大利益是明智的。我们使用的模型将韭菜密度或韭菜上的雄性数量与CRP数量以及所产生的景观结构相关联，以预测与CRP数量变化相关的更大的草原-鸡数量的变化。²）增加CRP草原和战略性大宗地（80,000 m ²）添加CRP草原。在区域大草原恢复计划的背景下，增加的大笔费用是美国明尼苏达州西北部的平均入学人数。在我们对CRP注册期满的模拟中，当草原景观连续性随CRP注册人数减少而下降时，较大的草原小鸡数量减少。与不增加草地邻接度的小区域中随机添加相同区域的情况相比，对大区域增加草地邻接度的战略CRP入库进行模拟通常会增加更大的草原-鸡肉丰度。在某些情况下，CRP登记的大草原-鸡的丰度没有变化，或者没有预测的负变化，因为它们在景观上没有足够的草地连续性，或者覆盖类型的碎片增加了。在添加CRP草原的大宗和小宗情况下，预计更大的草原-鸡丰度会增加；最大的增长与大宗包裹的增加有关。我们认为，战略规划应用CRP改善草地连续性比不考虑较大景观环境的机会主义方法能使更多的草原养鸡种群受益。CRP的战略实施可以使明尼苏达州西北部以及草原连续性可能成为限制因素的其他地区的更多草原鸡种群受益。©2020野生动物协会。我们认为，战略规划应用CRP改善草地连续性比不考虑较大景观环境的机会主义方法能使更多的草原养鸡种群受益。CRP的战略实施可以使明尼苏达州西北部以及草原连续性可能成为限制因素的其他地区的更多草原鸡种群受益。©2020野生动物协会。我们认为，战略规划应用CRP改善草地连续性比不考虑较大景观环境的机会主义方法能使更多的草原养鸡种群受益。CRP的战略实施可以使明尼苏达州西北部以及草原连续性可能成为限制因素的其他地区的更多草原鸡种群受益。©2020野生动物协会。