Patterns of Forage Production on the Great Plains

Abstract

Chapter 2 proposed that more heterogeneous hunting societies on the Plains should be found in regions in which ungulates occur in larger, more widely separated herds that are less mobile and whose movements are relatively regular within a séason and repetitive from year to year. To test this proposition for the recent bison-hunting societies on the Plains, it is necessary to consider the nature and degree of variation in the determinants of bison adaptations there. As Chapter 4 shows, patterns of forage production are the most important of these determinants, and forage production is largely controlled in turn by climatic factors. This chapter therefore considers the differences in modern climate across the Plains and demonstrates the effect of these differences on forage production.