Integrating Soil Property Surveys and Soil Landscape Models in the Development of a Habitat Suitability Model for Dakota Skipper, a Threatened Butterfly Species

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The Dakota Skipper (Hesperia dacotae) is a threatened butterfly species under the federal Species at Risk Act. Its distribution is limited to habitats of mixed-grass prairie, which has decreased dramatically in extent. As mixed-grass prairie habitat continues to decline across southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the abundance of Dakota Skipper is also presumed to be declining, but at this point, there is a knowledge gap pertaining to habitat suitability and availability. Based on previous surveys in Manitoba and the northern US, Dakota Skipper habitat suitability is controlled by more than just the presence/absence of available native prairie vegetation: there seems to be an interaction with other environmental variables, including some evidence of correlation between select soil properties and Dakota Skipper habitat. Unfortunately, these previous studies were not designed to properly characterize the relationship among soils, vegetation, and Dakota Skipper populations. Therefore, the specific objective for this proposal is to develop a predictive soil-landscape model for Dakota Skipper habitat by: a) evaluating the correlation strength between Dakota Skipper presence and select soil properties within remnant mixed-grass prairie patches and b) predicting the distribution of those soil properties. This information can then be integrated with surveys of other environmental variables to develop a habitat suitability model for Dakota Skippers and a modeling framework to developing additional habitat suitability models based on similar model parameters for invertebrate species at risk.