Antelope Jackrabbit in relation to habitat composition and structure | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Antelope Jackrabbit in relation to habitat composition and structure opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number P13AS00123) is a National Park Service (NPS) notice of intent to award a cooperative agreement to the University of Arizona (Principal Investigator John L. Koprowski) for a total of $35,000 with no cost share. It is explicitly not a request for applications; instead, it serves as public notice that NPS intends to fund a specific, non-competitive task agreement as a continuation of ongoing work and because the recipient is considered uniquely qualified. The work is scheduled to run from the date of award through June 30, 2016, under NPS cooperative agreement authority (16 USC 1g and 16 USC 5933) and is tied to the Cooperative Research and Training Programs for resources of the National Park System (CFDA 15.945).

Scientifically, the project is centered on understanding the status and basic life history of the antelope jackrabbit (Lepus alleni) by linking where the species occurs and how it moves to the composition and structure of the habitat it uses. The habitat variables named in the announcement make the focus very clear: cactus density and cactus diversity, woody plant cover, and invasive grass cover are treated as key structural and compositional features that may shape jackrabbit movements, habitat selection, and overall population performance. In practical terms, this means the study is designed to connect animal ecology (presence, movement patterns, and other life history traits) to measurable vegetation conditions on the ground, rather than treating habitat as a broad or generic category.

A major theme is change in habitat structure over time, especially change driven by common management actions and environmental conditions. Fire is singled out as an example of a management action that can rapidly alter vegetation structure, including reducing woody cover, changing cactus communities, and promoting or suppressing invasive grasses depending on conditions before and after burning. By emphasizing movements "in relation to habitat structure" and also "changing environmental conditions," the grant frames the jackrabbit as a species whose spatial behavior and persistence may be sensitive to shifts in vegetation patterns and disturbance regimes. That framing is important because it positions the work to produce management-relevant guidance, not just descriptive natural history.

Beyond documenting patterns, the project aims to identify habitat correlates and limiting factors for Lepus alleni. In other words, the study is intended to move toward diagnosing which habitat features are associated with higher use or better outcomes, and which features might constrain the species (for example, too much invasive grass cover, too little cactus diversity, or an unfavorable balance of woody cover). The announcement links these findings to concrete management intent: informing actions that maintain or increase antelope jackrabbit population size. It also explicitly pairs jackrabbit management relevance with another species of concern, the Pima pineapple cactus (Coryphantha scheeri), indicating a dual-interest landscape where vegetation management decisions could affect both a rare cactus and a native mammal. That coupling suggests the study may help managers navigate habitat tradeoffs or synergies, since factors like fire, shrub cover, and invasive grasses can influence cactus persistence as well as jackrabbit space use.

The opportunity also includes an applied conservation-planning question: evaluating the suitability of the antelope jackrabbit as a surrogate species in subtropical grasslands. In habitat-management terms, a surrogate species is used as a proxy for broader ecosystem conditions, where managing habitat to support the surrogate is expected to benefit other species or ecological values. By testing whether Lepus alleni reliably tracks certain structural attributes (like a particular mix of open grassland, cactus presence, and limited invasive grass dominance), the study could determine whether monitoring and managing for jackrabbit habitat needs is a defensible way to guide broader grassland conservation actions.

Geographically and institutionally, the work highlights Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (BANWR) as a distinctive research unit, implying that the refuge provides an especially relevant setting for studying subtropical grassland structure, cactus communities, invasive grass issues, and disturbance effects like fire. While the NPS is the funding agency in this notice, the project is set up as a collaborative effort with substantial NPS involvement, including guidance on study design, data collection, and analysis. The announcement also notes that the Southern Plains/Sonoran Desert Network (SODN) contributes specialized expertise in Sonoran Desert flora and standardized uplands vegetation protocols and plant identification, which aligns directly with the grant's emphasis on quantifying habitat composition and structure in a rigorous, repeatable way.

Taken together, the grant can be summarized as a targeted, management-oriented research effort that uses the antelope jackrabbit to better understand how specific vegetation components (cacti, woody plants, and invasive grasses) and disturbance or management actions (especially fire) shape habitat quality and animal movement in subtropical grasslands. The deliverable value is not framed as building infrastructure or providing services, but as producing integrated ecological information that land managers can use to diagnose limiting factors, prioritize habitat conditions to maintain or restore, and potentially use Lepus alleni as an indicator or surrogate for grassland ecosystem management at BANWR and similar landscapes.

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