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Greater sage-grouse closeness centrality of fully connected population structure in the western United States

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

Closeness centrality (cc; grsg_lcp_closeness_centrality) measures the average length of the shortest path between the node and all other nodes in the graph. The more central a node, the closer it is to all other nodes and the more likely information/movements can flow to other nodes. Closeness is computed as one divided by the average path lengths from a node to its neighbors, which assumes that important nodes are close to other nodes. The data were defined from least-cost paths (LCPs) constructed into minimum spanning trees (MSTs). We identified a threshold of the cc normalized value (>0.047) where patterns of network connectivity occurred in our graph. The cc identified leks with the greatest number of shortest paths between neighboring leks and therefore reflected the highest concentration of shortest paths between leks within an area. Leks identified with a cc value greater than our threshold were buffered by 15 km (inter-patch movement distance and distance of genetic flow), resulting in this dataset. Closeness centrality captured large areas with a higher density of sage-grouse, which we used to evaluate our derived population structure. Understanding wildlife population structure and connectivity can help managers identify conservation strategies, as structure can facilitate the study of population changes and habitat connectivity can provide information on dispersal and biodiversity. We developed an approach to define hierarchical population structure (in other words, demarcation of subpopulations) using graph theory (in other words, connectivity) from an amalgamation of biological inferences encompassing dispersal capabilities based on movements and genetic flow, seasonal habitat conditions, and functional processes (for example, selection of habitat at multiple scales) affecting movements. We applied our approach to greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), an upland gamebird species of conservation concern in western United States. We defined sage-grouse population structure by creating a cost surface, informed from functional processes of habitat characteristics to account for the resistance of inter-patch movements, and developing least-cost paths between breeding habitat sites (leks). The least-cost paths were combined into a multi-path graph construct for which we then used information on potential connectivity (dispersal distances) and functional connectivity (permeability of fragmented landscapes based on selection preferences) to decompose the graph into structures of subpopulations.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/0043e44f823aa87ca6c955b3f0ad4561
Identifier USGS:62ba257ad34e8f4977cc9fe1
Data Last Modified 20220725
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id a01616ce-74f6-412b-906f-a6065b5d3fe6
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -119.1357,38.8789,-104.1631,46.7134
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 785e92f24b9f8cc6ba65361885f4f3b855623b736eff7f653b7edcab46366ac8
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -119.1357, 38.8789, -119.1357, 46.7134, -104.1631, 46.7134, -104.1631, 38.8789, -119.1357, 38.8789}

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