USING QUAIL AS INDICATORS OF CHIHUAHUAN DESERT GRASSLAND ECOSYSTEM HEALTH | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

This grant opportunity from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service focuses on measuring the health of Chihuahuan Desert grasslands by using three native quail species (Mearns quail, scaled quail, and Gambel's quail) as biological indicators. The project is rooted in a well-documented regional problem: widespread grassland deterioration driven in part by brush and woody plant encroachment across the Chihuahuan Desert transition zone in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. While many interacting forces can contribute to shrub expansion in semi-arid grasslands, the funding notice emphasizes that recent, short-term declines in grassland condition are strongly linked to sustained, high-intensity grazing pressure from domestic livestock. Overgrazing reduces grass and forb cover and biomass, which can accelerate the establishment and persistence of woody plants by changing conditions for seed production, dispersal, seedling survival, and long-term stand development. In practical terms, this can shift landscapes away from diverse grass-forb communities toward shrub-dominated systems with different wildlife value and ecological function.

The central idea of the project is that quail can serve as sensitive, landscape-relevant indicators of these grazing-driven habitat changes because the three target species collectively use a range of niches within the desert grassland ecosystem, including open grasslands and more structured areas such as riparian corridors. By comparing quail populations and diets between heavily grazed and ungrazed areas, the study aims to translate vegetation change into measurable responses in wildlife abundance and food resources. The proposed hypothesis is straightforward: overgrazed grasslands will support fewer quail than ungrazed grasslands, and heavily grazed sites will have reduced diversity of grasses and forbs, which should also show up as less diverse food items (seeds and invertebrates) in quail crop samples. For the purposes of the study design, "grazed" pastures are defined as those heavily grazed within the previous five years, while "ungrazed" pastures are those without grazing during the previous five years.

Fieldwork is planned on ranchlands in south-central New Mexico and the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, leveraging areas where quail research is already underway. Quail abundance would be estimated using established survey techniques involving pointing dogs and flush counts, while diet composition would be assessed by examining crop samples to identify seed and invertebrate material. The analysis plan includes comparing abundance and diet across quail species, grazing treatment (grazed versus ungrazed), and season (fall, winter, spring, and summer), using multivariate analyses of variance to detect patterns and differences. Beyond describing current conditions, the project also proposes building resource selection function models to predict habitat needs and forecast population responses under scenarios where commercial livestock production increases or decreases. These models are intended to clarify the status and habitat requirements of the three desert quail species, and to highlight how they partition habitat across the landscape, which can help guide management decisions.

The opportunity is structured as a cooperative agreement, indicating close collaboration between the funding agency and the recipient rather than a simple pass-through grant. It sits under the natural resources activity category and aligns with CFDA 15.655 (Migratory Bird Monitoring, Assessment and Conservation). The announcement anticipates a single award with an estimated total funding amount of $23,760, and it includes a cost-sharing or matching requirement. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning a wide range of entity types may apply, subject to any clarifications in the full announcement. The project is explicitly described as complementing and expanding ongoing work by the Borderlands Research Institute at Sul Ross State University, while also strengthening applied conservation partnerships among organizations such as the Bureau of Land Management, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NRCS, and several nonprofit and sporting conservation groups (including Quail Forever, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and the Texas Quail Coalition). The original posting date was July 7, 2015, with a closing date of July 14, 2015, and the announcement was archived July 20, 2015. For access issues, the notice provides a contact at the Fish and Wildlife Service (Sara Williams, Budget/Grants Analyst).

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