Thompson's command was widely dispersed throughout northeast Arkansas, more for reasons of available forage than anything else.

"In fact, urban environments have been shown to be very good for bees because of the year-round, diverse forage available to them in our parks and gardens," she says.

Successful breeding in these regions depends more on available forage than on day length.

At the time, Thompson's command was widely dispersed throughout northeast Arkansas, mainly for reasons of available forage.

Ms. Whitaker contended that even if every horse were removed, there would be less than a 5 percent increase in available forage.

While black-tailed prairie dogs are often regarded as competitors with livestock for available forage, evidence of impacts on rangelands are mixed.

Female territoriality tends to determine density in suboptimal habitats; the amount of available forage may be the determining factor in female territory size, so determines reproductive success.

The key to the rapid increase in the ungulate populations is the amount of forage available.

They simply ignored ecologists' warnings that an uncontrolled elephant population would soon deplete the available forage.

"They'll move into an area and strip 15 to 20 percent of the available forage away in no time at all," he said.