Animal Sciences Commons^™

Plant Driven Movement: Does Plant Quality Affect The Foraging Patterns Of Successful Male Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus Urophasianus)?, Karli Graski, Marcella R. Fremgen, Gail Patricelli, Alan Krakauer, Jennifer S. Forbey

College of Arts and Sciences Presentations

The structural and dietary quality of plants is highly variable across the landscape and may influence energy acquisition by herbivores needed for energy dependent activities. For sage-grouse, male display efforts are energetically expensive, with successful males expending up to four times their basal metabolic rate to display. Previous work found that males who had the greatest energy expenditure during the lekking season also lost the least weight and foraged farthest from the lek. We hypothesized that the energetic benefit of foraging farther from the lek is due to higher quality food or cover compared to near lek vegetation. To initially …