Demography of black-tailed prairie dog populations reoccupying sites treated with rodenticide

Authors

R. P. Cincotta, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
D. W. Uresk, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Rapid City, South Dakota
R. M. Hansen, Colorado State University, Fort Collins

Abstract

A rodenticide, zinc phosphide, was applied to remove black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) from 6 ha of a prairie dog colony in southwestern South Dakota. Another adjacent 6 ha was left untreated. The removal experiment was repeated two consecutive years. Contingency table analysis showed that the resultant population was not homogeneous; age classes by sex of the immigrant and resident subpopulations were different (P < 0.01). The ratio of adult females to yearling females was greater among immigrants than among residents (P < 0.03). Female immigrants did not produce young in the treated zone during the year of their arrival. Fewer of these females displayed distended nipples than expected (P < 0.01), indicating that these immigrants did not reproduce during the reproductive season immediately preceding dispersal and suggesting that failure to reproduce may have stimulated dispersal.

Recommended Citation

Cincotta, R. P.; Uresk, D. W.; and Hansen, R. M. (1987) "Demography of black-tailed prairie dog populations reoccupying sites treated with rodenticide," Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 47: No. 2, Article 22.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol47/iss2/22