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Prairie Dog Population

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We will study the black-tailed prairie dog population in a study area of greater than 100 miles in the Great Plans region of north-central Kansas for 20 years. The locations of the will contain approximately 50 prairie dog coteries and fabricated burrows. These burrow sizes will be similar to what would be found in nature. The depth of a burrow found in nature can ranges from about 1.0 to 1.5 meters below the ground surface (Hoogland 1995). The length of all the tunnels combined is around 9.0 to 12.0 meters in nature (Hoogland 1995). The total study area is 1,300,000 km2 of flat land covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. The Great Plains lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains from the United States to Canada (Rouse Jr 1974). Within this study area, we will account for the genders of each individual as well as breeding and non-breeding individuals. We will conduct the experiment as part of a long-term study of the reproductive success within the populations.
These fabricated burrows will serve as a home for the 25 coteries placed in each one. The other 25 prairie dog coteries will serve as the control to ensure movement into our manufactured burrow did not change the behavior affects. We will capture several different coteries …show more content…
In addition, at the end of every year, we will count the number of surviving offspring and compare that to the number of helpers for that breeding season. Furthermore, we will also record number of offspring each breeding female produces each year to determine the long-term reproductive success. We plan to conduct the study during this time because the influx of nonbreeding helpers will be at its maximum to ensure offspring

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