Flea abundance on black-tailed prairie dogs (
Cynomys ludovicianus) increases during plague epizootics.
Species assessment for black-tailed prairie dog (
Cynomys ludoviciantes) in Wyoming.
Black-tailed prairie dogs (
Cynomys ludovicianus) and pocket gophers (Geomys bursarius), rodents that live in large colonies on the prairies of North America, provide one of the classic examples of mammals that structure the landscape, alter the species composition of the vegetation, and so facilitate other herbivores (Huntly and Inouye 1988, Whicker and Detling 1988a,b).
Data on prairie dogs (
Cynomys) provide evidence of plague-induced variation in populations.
2:30 "The effects of food, temperature, and light on growth, metamorphosis, and sexual maturation in the mole salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum)," Justin Andrist, Cari-Ann Hein, Evan Barker, and Chris Beachy, Department of Biology, Minot State University 2:50 BREAK 3:10 "Using a geographic information system to address the "selfish herd" hypothesis in Gunnison's prairie dogs (
Cynomys gunnisoni)" Daniel McEwen *, Donna Bruns Stockrahm and Bryan Watters, Minnesota State University-Moorhead.
Despite their limited range of southwestern Utah, which includes Bryce Canyon National Park,
Cynomys parvidens numbered about 95,000 individuals in the 1920s.
Due to loss of prairie habitat, species such as the white-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus townsendii), black-tailed prairie dog (
Cynomys ludovicianus), northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides), plains pocket mouse (Perognat has flavescens), and plains harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys montanus) may be absent from parts of their historical ranges.
The evolution of coloniality in white-tailed and black-tailed prairie dogs (Sciuridae:
Cynomys leucurus and
Cynomys ludovicianus).
Ritchie (1999) has demonstrated this effect in isolated colonies of a generalist grazing herbivore, the Utah prairie dog (
Cynomys parvidens); local extinction rates decline dramatically with increasing food plant species diversity.