1. Small Mammal Responses to the Reintroduction of Gunnison’s Prairie Dog Betsy Black, Amherst College Andrew Veselka, Dickinson College Stephanie Baker Photo: Cassie Miller

2. King Prairie Dog ● Ecosystem engineer o Burrowing o Grazing/clipping ● Modify o Vegetation structure o Population structures

3. Small Mammals ● Burrowing provides habitat ● Vegetation alteration affects herbivorous rodents ● Arthropod alteration affects carnivorous rodents ●Prairie dog presence increases small mammal abundance and decrease small mammal diversity

4. Expected Responses to Prairie Dogs Positive associationNegative association

5. Expected Responses to Prairie Dogs Positive associationNegative association Grasshopper Mouse Onychomys sp

6. Expected Responses to Prairie Dogs Positive associationNegative association Grasshopper Mouse Onychomys sp Spotted Ground Squirrel Spermophilis spilosoma Peromyscus sp Silky Pocket Mouse Perognathus flavus Banner Tailed and Merriam’s Kangaroo Rat Dipodomys spectabiis and merriami

7. Expected Responses to Prairie Dogs Positive associationNegative association Grasshopper Mouse Onychomys sp Spotted Ground Squirrel Spermophilis spilosoma Peromyscus sp Silky Pocket Mouse Perognathus flavus Banner Tailed and Merriam’s Kangaroo Rat Dipodomys spectabiis and merriami Southern Plain’s Woodrat Neotoma micropus

8. Expected Responses to Prairie Dogs Positive associationNegative association Grasshopper Mouse Onychomys sp Spotted Ground Squirrel Spermophilis spilosoma Peromyscus sp Silky Pocket Mouse Perognathus flavus Banner Tailed and Merriam’s Kangaroo Rat Dipodomys spectabiis and merriami Southern Plain’s Woodrat Neotoma micropus Ord’s Kangaroo Rat Dipodomys ordii

9. Oh. And a bunny. And a bunny.

10. Oh. And a bunny. And a bunny. Sylvilagus audubonii SILL-vih-LAG-uhs AW-duh-BON-ee

11. Objectives ● Are there significant differences in abundance and diversity of small mammals populations between sites with and without prairie dogs? ● Can a correlation be seen between prairie dog burrow entrance density and number of individuals caught?

12. Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge ● Gunnison’s prairie dogs extirpated before conversion to refuge ● Reintroduction began in 1997

13. Small Mammal Trapping ● Conducted in plots A through D on the East side of the refuge ● Gunnison’s prairie dogs reintroduced to plots B and D in 2010 ● Set 169 traps per plot

14. Small Mammal Sampling ● Examined for: o species o previous capture o mass o sex o reproductive status o age group ● Mark recapture method used Ear tagged kangaroo rat Marked ground squirrel

15. Results ● Total of 677 small mammals captured ● 240 captured on control plots and 437 captured on treatment plots 20132014 SpeciesTreatmentControlTreatmentControl Dipodomys ordii520363617 Dipodomys merriami4070 Dipodomys spectabilis261522 Neotoma micropus2324 Onychomys sp.1776611 Peromyscus sp.04175 Perognathus flavus12483280179 Spermophilus spilosoma 8672

16. 2014 Treatment Plots vs. Control Plots

18. Treatment versus Control Values less than 0.05 (highlighted) indicate significant differences in population between treatment and control plots Species20132014 Dipodomys merriami0.03030.0316 Dipodomys ordii0.02990.0379 Dipodomys spectabilis 0.59350.3526 Neotoma micropus0.40540.3485 Onychomys sp.0.06360.0029 Perognathus flavus0.07340.0303 Peromyscus sp.0.17090.2694 Spermophilis spilosoma 0.53860.2954 Total small mammals 0.18630.0009

21. Control Treatment

22. Control Treatment

23. Dipodomys ordii ● Avoid active prairie dog colonies ● Frequently found in abandoned burrows 20132014 SpeciesTreatmentControlTreatmentControl Dipodomys ordii5203317 p=0.0379 p=0.0299

24. Independent sources of variation Precipitation variation between years ● Above average rainfall amplifies unique features of prairie dog towns ● Leads to more distinct small mammal communities

25. Objectives ● Are there significant differences in abundance and diversity of small mammals populations between sites with and without prairie dogs? ● Can a correlation be seen between prairie dog burrow entrance density and number of individuals caught?

26. Objectives ● Can a correlation be seen between prairie dog burrow entrance density and number of individuals caught?

27. Burrow Mapping ● Plotted prairie dog burrow entrances and trap grids using a GeoExplorer Trimble ● Overlayed resulting maps using ArcGIS ● Used the data to determine relationship between burrow location and trap success

28. Prairie Dog Burrow Buffers

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32. ● Average burrows within 12.5m of traps Results

33. ● No discernible trend *Species under red arrows were significantly more abundant on treatment than control plots

34. Conclusion ● Overall abundance of small mammals increased on treatment plots ● Dipodomys merriami, Dipodomys ordii, Onychomys sp., and Perognathus flavus significantly more abundant on treatment plots

35. Conclusion (contin.) ● No species were significantly less abundant on treatment than control plots ● No trends in burrow location relative to trap success

36. Future Focus ● Assess effect of o amount of prairie dog burrows o annual rainfall o insect biomass ● Compare microclimates of plot B and D

37. Future Focus ● Assess effect of o amount of prairie o annual rainfall o insect biomass ● Compare microclimates of plot B and D

38. Acknowledgements Stephanie Baker Amaris Swann Ty Werdel Ari AnadaJari Javier Faith CarneyShane Piaso Cassie MillerJenny Sparks Ariel ElliotNathan Tutchton Wendy FloresSze Wing Yu Ben SpecterRina Ouellette

39. “Teamwork makes the dream work” -Dizzy Wright