The endangered Attwater's prairie chicken and an analysis of prairie grouse helminthic endoparasitism

Although managers have speculated that parasitism might have contributed to the endangerment of the Attwater's prairie chicken Tympanuchus cupido attwateri , no data are available to evaluate this hypothesis Because time is constraining, I attempted to determine whether Attwater's praine chicken are likely to harbor helminthic endoparasites known to cause disease m other grouse so that a more informed decision regarding whether to commit time and other resources to field studies and expenmental trials can be made Using polar ordination, I found a gradient among 10 surveys of helminthic endoparasites of praine grouse collected from several midcontinental ecoregions of the USA (1931–1977) A regression model including variables representing 1) normal annual precipitation and 2) normal winter (Dec–Feb) temperature and the proportion of normal annual precipitation received during the winter could account for this gradient When meteorological data from areas inhabited by the remaining 3 Attwater's praine chicken populations were incorporated, the models predicted that Attwater's praine chicken might be expected to harbor helminthic endoparasite communities similar to those of greater praine chicken T c pinnatus populations surveyed in Illhnois, Kansas, and Missoun Two parasite species associated with disease in North Amencan grouse Dispharynx nasuta, Heterakis gallmarum were found during these studies Additionally, Attwater's pratrie chicken might be expected to maintain parasites not found during any of the surveys I evaluated This study suggests that it would be worthwhile to survey free‐living Attwater's pratrie chicken to determine whether individuals harbor helminthic endoparasites shown pathogenic to other grouse species, even if the methodologies employed must be somewhat constrained