Spatial patterns in leaf area and plant functional type cover across chronosequences of sagebrush ecosystems

y Since most studies of ecosystem dynamics after disturbance require longer durations of study than the life span of most research careers, many studies rely on chronosequence approaches to substitute space for time. We tested the chronosequence approach for assessing the change in plant functional type cover and leaf area index (L) using three replicated mountain big sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata var. vaseyana (Rydb.) Boivin) dominated ecosystems in southern Wyoming. We further tested our broader inferences of mountain big sagebrush ecosystem chronosequences by assessing whether dynamics in spatial patterning of plant functional type cover and leaf area index would compromise the chronosequence approach. We hypothesized that (1) L and total cover increase with age at similar rates across replicated chronosequences, (2) spatial autocorrelation is greatest with shrub cover, and (3) spatial autocorrelation increases with age. We failed to reject all three hypotheses. Our analyses showed that mean shrub cover, total cover, and L all increased linearly with time since disturbance across all three replicated chronosequences. While neither graminoid nor forb cover was correlated with time since disturbance, graminoid cover did show an inverse relationship with shrub cover and L. Semivariogram analysis showed that spatial patterning increased with shrub cover and time since disturbance. Thus, while we cannot yet provide a process to fit the spatial patterns, the chronosequence approach for sagebrush ecosystems recovering from disturbance has survived a rigorous test because the mean changes in shrub cover, total cover, and L were replicable across three different sites.