National assessment and critiques of state-and-transition models: The baby with the bathwater

Abstract

On the Ground Ecological site descriptions and state-and-transition models are national-level tools for organizing and delivering information about landscape dynamics and management. Recent papers criticized state-and-transition models because they overemphasize grazing, are inconsistently presented, and do not address climate change. I argue that the analysis of Twidwell et al. does not support an overemphasis on grazing, that inconsistent presentation is a necessary consequence of early model development efforts and immature science concepts, and that climate change effects should not be addressed in site-level models without evidence. Improving these important tools requires fair critique, but also the strong commitment of scientists and funders.