The SGS-LTER research site was established in 1980 by researchers at Colorado State University as part of a network of long-term research sites within the US LTER Network, supported by the National Science Foundation. Scientists within the Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, and Biology Department at CSU, California State Fullerton, USDA Agricultural Research Service, University of Northern Colorado, and the University of Wyoming, among others, have contributed to our understanding of the structure and functions of the shortgrass steppe and other diverse ecosystems across the network while maintaining a common mission and sharing expertise, data and infrastructure.Food, competition, and predation dictate habitat use (Schmutz et al. 1991) and ultimately reproduction. Avian reproduction is frequently food-limited (Wellicome 2000), and predation is the primary cause of nest failure (Martin 1993). Selection of prey and habitat features which minimize these effects should therefore enhance reproduction. We examined this issue using the Burrowing Owl, a declining species of the Great Plains
