Research Data Sets: Faunal Dynamics
During the past funding cycle we focused our animal monitoring on small mammals because they are important as consumers of seeds, arthropods and other small vertebrates, and as prey for a wide range of predators. They alter the system through their burrowing and mound-building activities and by consuming key plant species. Thus dynamics of small mammals simultaneously reflect and affect both the structure and function of SGS ecosystems. We propose to continue our emphasis on the dynamics and ecological effects of small mammals, synthesizing and building upon our past research success. Broadly, these studies will fall into two areas: 1) a continuation of long-term studies tracking changes in small mammal populations, their resources, and predators; and 2) new research to examine linkages between black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) and associated small mammals, plants, underground invertebrates, and microbes. One purpose is to examine dynamics in the face of an introduced disease, sylvatic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which has indirect effects on flora and fauna of SGS because of extinction and re-settlement dynamics of prairie dog towns. Our work on faunal dynamics and ecosystem interactions is organized around 7 hypotheses (F1-F7).
Data Sets related to Faunal Dynamics
- The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis
- Avian Road Counts (Breeding Bird Survey) 1994-2002
- Pawnee avian road count field data (1968-1990)
- Genetic Structure of Metapopulation of Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs
- SGS-LTER Long-Term Montioring Project: Arthropod Pitfall Trapping on Small Mammal Trapping Webs
- SGS-LTER Long-term Monitoring Project: Carnivore Scat Count
- SGS-LTER Long-term Monitoring Project: Spotlight Rabbit Count
- SGS-LTER Long-Term Monitoring Project: Small Mammals on Trapping Webs
- Body weights of rodents captured during SGS-LTER live-trapping
- SGS-LTER Long-Term Monitoring Project: Spermophilus tridecemlineatus on Small Mammal Trapping Webs
- SGS-LTER Long-Term Monitoring Project: Vegetation Cover on Small Mammal Trapping Webs
- SGS-LTER Long-Term Monitoring Project: Vegetation Structure on Small Mammal Trapping Webs
