Spatiotemporal dynamics of blacktailed prairie do

Authors: David J Augustine Marc R Matchett Theodore P Toombs Jack F Cully Tammi L Johnson John G Sidle

Publish Date: 2007/11/09

Volume: 23, Issue: 3, Pages: 255-267

PDF Link

Abstract

Blacktailed prairie dogs Cynomys ludovicianus are a key component of the disturbance regime in semiarid grasslands of central North America Many studies have compared community and ecosystem characteristics on prairie dog colonies to grasslands without prairie dogs but little is known about landscapescale patterns of disturbance that prairie dog colony complexes may impose on grasslands over long time periods We examined spatiotemporal dynamics in two prairie dog colony complexes in southeastern Colorado Comanche and northcentral Montana Phillips County that have been strongly influenced by plague and compared them to a complex unaffected by plague in northwestern Nebraska Oglala Both plagueaffected complexes exhibited substantial spatiotemporal variability in the area occupied during a decade in contrast to the stability of colonies in the Oglala complex However the plagueaffected complexes differed in spatial patterns of colony movement Colonies in the Comanche complex in shortgrass steppe shifted locations over a decade Only 10 of the area occupied in 1995 was still occupied by prairie dogs in 2006 In 2005 and 2006 respectively 74 and 83 of the total area of the Comanche complex occurred in locations that were not occupied in 1995 and only 1 of the complex was occupied continuously over a decade In contrast prairie dogs in the Phillips County complex in mixedgrass prairie and sagebrush steppe primarily recolonized previously occupied areas after plagueinduced colony declines In Phillips County 62 of the area occupied in 1993 was also occupied by prairie dogs in 2004 and 12 of the complex was occupied continuously over a decade Our results indicate that plague accelerates spatiotemporal movement of prairie dog colonies and have significant implications for landscapescale effects of prairie dog disturbance on grassland composition and productivity These findings highlight the need to combine landscapescale measures of habitat suitability with longterm measures of colony locations to understand the role of plagueaffected prairie dogs as a grassland disturbance processWe thank John Grensten and Valerie Kopcso from the Bureau of Land Management in Malta Montana along with numerous other cooperators interns and technicians for collecting the Phillips County prairie dog mapping data We thank Jeff Abbeglin and Jason Brewer for collecting the Oglala National Grassland prairie dog mapping data We thank Thomas Peters for supporting the prairie dog mapping efforts on the Comanche National Grassland M F Antolin J L D Dullum and an anonymous reviewer provided helpful comments the manuscript Funding was provided by the USDA—Forest Service USDA—Agricultural Research Service USDI—Bureau of Land Management and the Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit

Keywords: