BOZEMAN – Through new research, a team in Montana State University's College of Agriculture has published a comprehensive look at wildlife species that depend on rangeland ecosystems, sifting through nearly 1,600 animal types.
The work, titled " An Inventory of Rangeland Wildlife in the Western United States ," was published in the journal Rangeland Ecology and Management in January. It was designed to give habitat managers, policymakers and recreationists a catalog of the animals in this unique habitat all in one place – something MSU professor Lance McNew said has never existed before.
"This paper is ultimately the answer to a simple question: 'How many wildlife species require rangeland habitats? That is, how important are rangelands to wildlife in the U.S.?'" McNew said. "Surprisingly, a delve into the published literature returned no clear answer. Our approach is simple, clear and repeatable, and the results provide empirical support for the importance of rangelands to wildlife biodiversity in the western U.S."
One of the roadblocks to building a comprehensive list, the paper notes, is that "rangeland" has been defined in countless ways throughout history. McNew and his team defined rangeland as areas, managed as natural ecosystems, where the vegetation is predominantly grass and shrubs. This includes desert landscapes, tundra, marshes, meadows and grasslands. Using that definition, more than 30% of the U.S. landmass is classified as rangeland, and most of that acreage is in the West. In Montana, roughly 70% of the state is rangeland.
Along with McNew, authors on the paper include seven graduate students and three undergraduate students in MSU's Department of Animal and Range Sciences . Lead author Elizabeth Leipold, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florida, was working on her doctorate in McNew's lab while contributing to the work. Leipold, who now conducts habitat research focused on wild turkeys, worked for a year and a half while at MSU to make sense of a final tally of 1,066 species with at least some dependence on rangelands.
The team used a piece of software called NatureServe, which collects wildlife data, to amass data on western wildlife in rangeland habitats. From birds and mammals to reptiles, they divvied up the resultant collection and dug deeper into the specifics, sorting through data from 21 western states.
Based on nesting and breeding habits, diet and other ecological needs, species were classified according to how critical rangeland ecosystems are to their survival. Animals were further organized based on whether they are endangered. Of the rangeland species, 33 are listed as endangered, near threatened or vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
"We wanted to look at each species and be thoughtful about whether or not it's associated with rangelands. Which species are going to be negatively impacted as our rangelands continue to disappear?" said Leipold, who completed her doctorate at MSU in 2023. "If you don't have an idea of the species that are supposed to be there, then it's harder to know what you're managing for."
In Montana, 329 rangeland species were identified, from the red-winged blackbird and moose to the spiny softshell turtle. Four are currently considered endangered by the IUCN: the whooping crane, black rosy finch, black-footed ferret and little brown bat, which is currently under review for listing and performs important environmental services by eating insects.
While the knowledge itself interested the researchers, the application and use of that knowledge was paramount in the publication process. The paper has two large indexes to help readers easily find data without having to track it down online or elsewhere. Those data collections can be downloaded from the published paper for free.
Leipold, who said her time at MSU deepened her appreciation for community education through Extension programs, was intentional about designing the publication so that it could be most useful to the people.
"Being able to work on projects that are management related is really important to me," said Leipold. "I think the ecological questions are super interesting and I love learning about them, but I also want what I do to have a tangible impact on conservation and management, helping people make the habitat they want on the landscape."
Further, Leipold said the work, along with her continued studies at UF — a land-grant university like MSU — has helped her to gain important skills working and communicating across a range of scientific backgrounds and interests. Placing rangeland animals in greater context and being able to definitively show how crucial those landscapes are to conservation and biodiversity gives greater credence when having those conversations, she said.
"So much thought went into this. It was a very communal writing process," she said. "One of the driving factors for creating this paper was to have something that people can look at and know exactly where we're coming from. This information is very hard to find. We made it easy to find and easily available, which makes it easier to communicate to the public. These habitats are important, and now we actually have proof of it."
