Changing how resources are determined each year and then partitioned to functional groups and then individuals.

We need to overhaul how resource availability is calculated each year. Currently, it is based on monthly transpiration in each soil layer. This is problematic because of a positive feedback loop between biomass and transpiration that occurs. Biomass influences transpiration and in turn transpiration (resources) influences biomass through plant growth and mortality. Thus, if biomass is low, transpiration will be low, resources will be low, and biomass will not increase. This positive feedback loop means it can take a good deal of time for functional groups to respond to higher resource availability. This is very apparent when sagebrush biomass goes to 0 - because resource availability is based on biomass of established plant functional groups - there is not an increase in resources after sagebrush dies (while conceptually there should be). Therefore, we do not see a response from the annual and perennial grasses to increased resource availability when sagebrush dies.