Land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program supports roosting ecology of the lesser prairie-chicken

All animals must select sites to rest and may spend a large portion of their lives doing so. Despite the importance of this period in their daily activity budget, we lack information about rest/roost ecology for most animals, including the imperiled lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus; hereafter “LEPC”). Therefore, we sought to identify how landcover, anthropogenic features, and human policy (i.e., presence of the Conservation Reserve Program [CRP]) influenced roost site selection and movement patterns of the LEPC. From March to May 2013–2015, we captured and fitted GPS transmitters to 106 LEPCs (n = 72 males; n = 34 females) within Beaver County, Oklahoma and recorded two nocturnal locations per 24-hour period, annually. We used discrete choice models and generalized linear mixed effects models to determine how vegetation cover, CRP patches, and anthropogenic features influenced roost site selection and movements to roosting sites, respectively. We found that roost sites were closer to CRP, leks, and croplands than would be expected at random. Conversely, roost sites were located farther away from shortgrass prairie, roads, and transmission lines than expected. The probability of a LEPC roosting in a location increased by 15% and 4.5% for every 36-meter decrease in distance to a CRP patch and distance to their lek of capture, respectively. Similarly, individuals roosting in CRP patches would travel shorter distances to get to roost sites if their last diurnal location was near CRP. Bird’s movements to roosts in CRP were 1.4 times shorter for every meter decrease in the distance of their last diurnal location to a CRP patch, indicating that individuals modify their movement based on CRP presence. Our results indicate that CRP is influential to roosting ecology of the LEPC within this region and may be meeting critical cover requirements.