a survey of reintroduced gunnison’s prairie dog impacts on chihuahuan desert grassland evan hewitt
TRANSCRIPT
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A Survey of Reintroduced Gunnison’s Prairie Dog Impacts on Chihuahuan Desert GrasslandEvan Hewitt
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Gunnison’s Prairie Dog• Cynomys gunnisoni (GPD) is a
graminivorous, social, semi-fossorial mammal related to squirrels
• Species exterminated across much of it’s native range, recently reintroduced on Sevilleta (2010)
• Prairie dogs are a keystone species
• Affect species composition, diversity, height, structure, biomass, and productivity
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Purpose of Research• Investigate the impact of prairie dogs on vegetation. Across
the control and treatment plots, will surveys indicate a significant change in biomass between plots? What about species diversity?
• Circumstances, behavior and ecology of GPD differs significantly from the more commonly studied black tailed prairie dog (C. ludovicianus).
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Chihuahuan Desert Grassland
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Field Methods (Cont’d)
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Results – Species Richness
A B C D0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Species Richness
Species Richness
T-Testp-value = 0.197692221No significant difference between treatments on species richness.
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Results – Total Biomass
82.6%
3.5%
13.9%
All Plots Biomass
GrassesForbsSucculents and Shrubs
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95.7%
4.0% 0.2%
Control 56.8% of Total
GrassesForbsSucculents and Shrubs
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65.4%
2.8%
31.8%
Treatment 43.2% of Total
GrassesForbsSucculents and Shrubs
Cover T-Test 0.000517437Significant p valueBiomass T-Test 0.363673826 Not Significant p value
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Interpretation• The data collected for this study does not readily reflect the
impact of GPD on vegetation. • Temporal scale, methodological• Climate, phenology
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Future• Yearly and seasonal data collection• Augment quadrat sampling with methods such as transects
with a greater spatial extent
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Acknowledgements• Partnership between NSF, USFWS, UNM that made this
opportunity possible.• Amaris Swann, Jon Erz, Stephanie Baker • Fellow undergraduate researchers