Fritcher et al. looked at the effect of seral stage (early, early-intermediate, late-intermediate and late) on the habitat selection of grassland birds on the Fort Pierre National Grassland in South Dakota. Species abundance differed between the different stages in total numbers and types of species. Burrowing owls, chestnut collared longspurs and upland sandpipers were common on the early and early-intermediate stages, but due to an increase in vegetation density, were hardly found on the late seral plots. The opposite went for species such as the grasshopper sparrow and the bobolink, species that need habitat with large amounts of vegetative cover. Fritcher et al. proposed that a mosaic of seral stages was needed to keep a large and diverse population of grassland birds. Further research is needed to determine how much of each successional stage is required for the bird species present.
Citations and enhanced abstracts for journals articles and documents focused on rangeland ecology and management. RSIS is a collaboration between Montana State University, University of Idaho, and University of Wyoming.