\n
Comment on this story<\/title><\/button><\/p>\n<p>Comment<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"teaser-content grid-center\">\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">When plague struck black-tailed prairie dogs in the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fs.usda.gov\/main\/mbr\/about-forest\" rel=\"noopener\">Thunder Basin National Grassland<\/a> in Wyoming in 2017, a huge die-off followed. It spelled disaster for the burrowing rodents. But for researchers, it provided an opportunity for a \u201cnatural experiment\u201d in the consequences of a single species\u2019 collapse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">What happened next is the basis of a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/eap.2712\" rel=\"noopener\">study<\/a> in the journal Ecological Applications. It follows the fates of not only the prairie dogs but also the land they lived on and the many animals their deaths affected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Researchers looked at data on prairie dog distributions before and after the plague, along with surveys of the area\u2019s vegetation and its animals \u2014 including carnivores such as badgers, foxes and coyotes; deer and elk; and 80 species of birds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Before the plague, prairie dogs stretched over 10,000 hectares (about 39 square miles) in the grassland. Afterward, they could be found only in an area of less than 50 hectares.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Substantial declines in prairie dog predators in the area followed, the researchers write. Badgers declined to \u201cnear-zero\u201d levels, and the numbers of hawks, foxes and bobcats dwindled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Another factor combined with the prairie dog deaths to change the region\u2019s wildlife. In 2018, abnormally high precipitation dumped 13.3 inches of rain on the area between May and July, up from just 5.4 inches the year before.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">The prairie dog population would usually feed on the abundant grass that followed. But without the prairie dogs, the grass grew unchecked. As a result, the numbers of mountain plover, a bird that thrives in short vegetation, dropped to near zero. Other species such as burrowing owls and horned larks dropped, too. In their place came songbirds that prefer tall grasses. One such species, the lark bunting, increased more than threefold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">Prairie dogs play a \u201ccritical role\u201d for vegetation and wildlife within their habitats, the researchers conclude, and plague creates a \u201cmajor conservation challenge\u201d that can affect a variety of species.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\" class=\"wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css font-copy\">More research is needed to help better predict these cycles, they write. Given the likelihood of future animal diseases and climate extremes, they say, collaboration between researchers, landowners and others is needed to help protect other animals from similar cascades after one species\u2019 decline.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hide-for-print\" data-testid=\"collections__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpds-c-iRrQDa wpds-c-iRrQDa-ibLfOyz-css\">\n<div class=\"wpds-c-eZQlgr\">\n<div data-qa=\"styled-package-label\"><label class=\"wpds-c-izoWfM wpds-c-izoWfM-jPiQqD-size-md wpds-c-izoWfM-iPJLV-css\"><\/p>\n<p>More science and environment stories<\/p>\n<p><\/label><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><button class=\"wpds-c-jmLDag wpds-c-jmLDag-SQjOY-variant-secondary wpds-c-jmLDag-biynoz-density-compact wpds-c-jmLDag-hGNJMA-icon-center wpds-c-jmLDag-ikSMOab-css\">View 3 more stories<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"dn-ns hide-for-print\" data-testid=\"mostRead\" \/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/__i\/rss\/rd\/articles\/CBMiU2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9zY2llbmNlLzIwMjMvMDEvMTQvcHJhaXJpZS1kb2ctcGxhZ3VlLXJpcHBsZS1lZmZlY3Qv0gEA?oc=5\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Comment on this story Comment When plague struck black-tailed prairie dogs in the Thunder Basin National Grassland in Wyoming in 2017, a huge die-off followed. It spelled disaster for the burrowing rodents. But for researchers, it provided an opportunity for a \u201cnatural experiment\u201d in the consequences of a single species\u2019 collapse. What happened next is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[45],"tags":[13375,13374,2700,395,13373,265],"class_list":["post-41261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ripple","tag-animals","tag-calamity","tag-dog","tag-effect","tag-prairie","tag-ripple"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/XNXVSU4K5YPQMFVA7FWXBY6ONA.jpgw1440.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41263,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41261\/revisions\/41263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}