Date

2015

Abstract

Prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) are burrowing rodents considered to be ecosystem engineers and keystone species of the central grasslands of North America. Yet, prairie dog populations have declined by an estimated 98% throughout their historic range. This dramatic decline has resulted in the widespread loss of their important ecological role throughout this grassland system. The 92,060 ha Sevilleta NWR in central New Mexico includes more than 54,000 ha of native grassland. Gunnison’s prairie dogs (C. gunnisoni) were reported to occupy ~15,000 ha of what is now the SNWR during the 1960’s, prior to their systematic eradication. In 2010, we collaborated with local agencies and conservation organizations to restore the functional role of prairie dogs to the grassland system. Gunnison’s prairie dogs were reintroduced to a site that was occupied by prairie dogs 40 years ago. This work is part of a larger, long-term study where we are studying the ecological effects of prairie dogs as they re-colonize the grassland ecosystem.

Handle

http://hdl.handle.net/1928/29972.2

Other Identifier

SEV238

Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) Identifier

knb-lter-sev.238.226091

Document Type

Dataset

Comments

This dataset was originally published on the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network Data Portal, https://portal.lternet.edu, and potentially via other repositories or portals as described. The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the source data package is doi:10.6073/pasta/1638ee92785f6c4582d4977d1f17024f, and may be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/1638ee92785f6c4582d4977d1f17024f. Metadata and files included in this record mirror as closely as possible the source data and documentation, with the provenance metadata and quality report generated by the LTER portal reproduced here as '*-provenance.xml' and *-report.html' files, respectively.

Rights

Data Policies: This dataset is released to the public and may be freely downloaded. Please keep the designated Contact person informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation or collaboration with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset must include proper acknowledgement of the Sevilleta LTER. Datasets must be cited as in the example provided. A copy of any publications using these data must be supplied to the Sevilleta LTER Information Manager. By downloading any data you implicitly acknowledge the LTER Data Policy (http://www.lternet.edu/data/netpolicy.html).

Source

http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/1638ee92785f6c4582d4977d1f17024f

Temporal coverage

2013-11-26 - 2015-04-15

Spatial coverage

Location: The study area is about 655 ha (~2.5 sq mi) in size and approximately 1 km due west from the foothills of the Los Pinos Mountains. The study is also just north of the Blue Grama Core Site.The center of plot B is: -106.628 34.333The center of plot D is: -106.636 34.324Soils: sandy loam and sandy clay loam, History: historically large prairie dog colonies inhabited the study area, siteid: 49

DOI

doi:10.6073/pasta/1638ee92785f6c4582d4977d1f17024f

Permanent URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/1638ee92785f6c4582d4977d1f17024f

Additional Files
knb-lter-sev.238.226091-metadata.html (78 kB)
Show full metadata
knb-lter-sev.238.226091-provenance.xml (4 kB)
Show provenance metadata
knb-lter-sev.238.226091-report.html (27 kB)
Show original LTER Network Data Portal ingest report
sev238_pdogvegcover_20150625.txt (215 kB)
Data in TXT format
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