Spatial and temporal heterogeneity in resource availability and environmental conditions are key determinants of the distribution of many organisms and in-part shapes ecosystem function. As a result, understanding how species respond to this heterogeneity will be critical to effectively conserving wildlife into the future. Among the most important conditions influencing organisms is the thermal environment. In grassland landscapes that varied in their degree of structural and compositional heterogeneity we observed a pattern towards increasing thermal variability with increasing compositional variation at the landscape scale, but only a moderate connection between thermal variation and structural variation at this scale. However, at the level of individual sample locations, thermal patterns were primarily driven by vegetation structure. Further, when we evaluated how female Greater Prairie-Chickens (Tympanuchus cupidio) made trade-off decisions between food resources and the thermal environment, at the patch level it appeared the prairie-chickens were prioritizing food availability by selecting invertebrate rich patches that were among the hottest parts of the landscape. Despite this, prairie-chickens were able to modify their space use at relatively fine spatial and temporal scales to select for cooler conditions during the hottest part of the day. These results suggest that the scale of observation has an important influence on perceived patterns in the thermal environment. Finally, we used a nine-year data set of nest records to evaluate the influence of weather conditions on prairie-chicken reproductive behaviors. Daily nest survival was negatively influenced by higher levels of precipitation and high temperatures. Additionally, warmer spring temperatures resulted in earlier start dates for nest incubation and smaller clutch sizes. This work provides important information about how structural and compositional vegetation heterogeneity influences resource availability in grasslands, and how a species of conservation concern responds to environmental variability.