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Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit

Patterns and Processes of Dispersal of Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs in a Heavily Managed Landscape of the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative

Close up of Black-tailed Prairie DogsInvestigators:
Samantha M. Wisely
Jack F. Cully, Jr.
Charles Lee

Project Supervisors:
Samantha M. Wisely
Jack F. Cully, Jr.
Charles Lee

Funding:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Cooperators:
Kansas State University
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Location:
The Great Plains

Completion:
June 2014

Status:
Completed

Objectives:
(1) Patterns of connectivity.

(1a) Determine the frequency of long distance dispersal.

  • (1b) Estimate the average dispersal distance for male vs. female migrants of each colony and complex.
  • (1c) Estimate the connectivity of regions over multiple generations.

(2) Ecological processes of dispersal.

  • (2a) Determine habitat suitable for dispersal among colonies but within complexes.
  • (2b) Determine the ecological processes responsbile for maintaining connectivity or isolation among complexes and ecoregions.

Progress and Results:

Products:
Rachel Pigg (Ph.D. 2014; advisor Cully). A multi-scale investigation of movement patterns among black-tailed prairie dog colonies. Ph.D. Dissertation, Kansas State University.

Pigg, RM, SM Wisely, C Lee, JF Cully, Jr. 2013. Broad-scale patterns of connectivity among black-tailed prairie dog colonies in a heavily managed landscape. American Society of Mammalogists Conference, Philadelphia, PA.