Forb Nutrient Density for Sage Grouse Broods in Mountain Big Sagebrush Communities, Montana

Do state‐and‐transition models derived from vegetation succession also represent avian succession in restored mine pits?

“…A state-and-transition model that showed good congruence with Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum) abundance contained states that were defined by their cover of perennial bunchgrass (Holmes and Miller 2010), which is known to be an important variable affecting Grasshopper Sparrow abundance (Vander Haegen et al 2000, Earnst et al 2009. Other studies that have modeled predicted population changes of Sage Grouse using state-and-transition models have delineated states within the model based on understory composition and structure and dominant canopy vegetation (Hemstrom et al 2002, which, again, are known to be variables important in influencing Sage Grouse abundance (Swanson et al 2013, Whitehurst andMarlow 2013). These studies suggest that state-andtransition models based on vegetation variables can accurately represent faunal communities, but only when the vegetation variables that delineate states are known to be ecologically important in influencing species abundances or community composition.…”