Pino Gate Prairie Dog Study at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico: Mound-Scale Lizard Data (2000-2002)

Authors

Ana Davidson
David Lightfoot

Date

9-15-2010

Abstract

Keystone species have large impacts on community and ecosystem properties, and create important ecological interactions with other species. Prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) and banner-tailed kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spectabilis) are considered keystone species of grassland ecosystems, and create a mosaic of unique habitats on the landscape. These habitats are known to attract a number of animal species, but little is known about how they affect lizard communities. Our research evaluated the keystone roles of prairie dogs and kangaroo rats on lizards at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico, USA. We evaluated the impacts of these rodents on lizard communities in areas where prairie dogs and kangaroo rats co-occurred compared to areas where each rodent species occurred alone. Our results demonstrate that prairie dogs and kangaroo rats have keystone-level impacts on these lizard communities. Their burrow systems provided important habitats for multiple lizard species, especially the lesser earless lizard (Holbrookia maculata). At the landscape-scale, the total number of lizards was two-times greater on the where both prairie dogs and banner-tailed kangaroo rats co-occurred than where only kangaroo rats occurred.

Handle

http://hdl.handle.net/1928/30041

Other Identifier

SEV177

Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) Identifier

knb-lter-sev.177.102926

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/f7bb000b24cbabb329e503129c902506, and may be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f7bb000b24cbabb329e503129c902506. 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/f7bb000b24cbabb329e503129c902506

Temporal coverage

2000-06-01 - 2002-08-01

Spatial coverage

The study site was located near the base of the Los Pinos mountains and directly adjacent to the nothern fencline of the SNWR at Pino Gate

DOI

doi:10.6073/pasta/f7bb000b24cbabb329e503129c902506

Permanent URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f7bb000b24cbabb329e503129c902506

Recommended Citation

Davidson, Ana; Lightfoot, David (2010-09-15): Pino Gate Prairie Dog Study at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico: Mound-Scale Lizard Data (2000-2002). Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f7bb000b24cbabb329e503129c902506