Grantee Research Project Results
2002 Progress Report: Habitat Alteration and Disease Effects on Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs
EPA Grant Number: R829091Title: Habitat Alteration and Disease Effects on Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs
Investigators: Collinger, Sharon K. , Stone, Eric R. , Ray, Chris , Cully, Jack , Loye, Jenella , Gage, Kenneth , Kosoy, Michael
Current Investigators: Collinger, Sharon K. , Ray, Chris , Cully, Jack , Gage, Kenneth , Kosoy, Michael
Institution: University of Colorado at Boulder , University of Nevada - Reno , Kansas State University , University of California - Davis
Current Institution: University of Colorado at Boulder , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Kansas State University
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: December 15, 2001 through December 14, 2004 (Extended to December 14, 2005)
Project Period Covered by this Report: December 15, 2001 through December 14, 2002
Project Amount: $500,000
RFA: Wildlife Risk Assessment (2001) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration , Aquatic Ecosystems , Biology/Life Sciences
Objective:
The overall objective of this research project is focused on the combined effects of habitat alteration and wildlife community structure on the risk of disease outbreaks in the black-tailed prairie dog, a species of conservation concern. The black-tailed prairie dog is susceptible to bacterial blood diseases, transmitted by fleas, including sylvatic plague and Bartonella. Prairie dog colonies that contract plague commonly suffer 100 percent mortality, which makes predicting the risk of exposure to plague critical for prairie dog conservation. Because plague may be the most critical threat to the survival of black-tailed prairie dogs, we hope to gain a better understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of plague in this system.
Predicting disease outbreaks involves the consideration of multiple population stressors. Most diseases spread through contact between individuals of a single species, making the prediction of outbreaks dependent on the prediction of population dynamics within the species. Blood diseases (i.e., the plague) spread through contact between black-tailed prairie dogs and the many alternate mammalian hosts in the same habitat. Therefore, our research addresses the effects of landscape structure and land use on the dynamics of black-tailed prairie dogs and the dynamics of the alternate host community.
Our field research will provide data to determine the statistical relationships between outbreaks of plague and bartonellosis in black-tailed prairie dogs and in the alternate host community. First, detailed studies of landscape structure and use, population demography, and disease will be conducted at five study sites in Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming. Second, landscape structure and use will be related to presence-absence studies of disease and host populations conducted across several counties in Colorado and neighboring states.
Progress Summary:
During the first year of the project, our research group held a 2-day organizational meeting in May 2002, to determine objectives and procedures for Year 1. We mapped black-tailed prairie dog colonies at several locations throughout their geographic range for use in construction of a geographic information system (GIS) database (ArcInfo 8.2) that includes explicit spatial locations of prairie dog colonies, roads, streams, land cover, land use, private and public property, precipitation, and temperature. In Boulder, CO, we mapped 151 prairie dog colonies using a global positioning system (GPS). We also measured prairie dog density, vegetation cover, activity, and surrounding land use for each of these colonies. We mapped colonies on the Cimarron National Grassland, KS; Comanche National Grassland, CO; Kiowa National Grassland, NM; Rita Blanca National Grassland, OK and TX; and Thunder Basin National Grassland, WY. We mapped 294 colonies on the southern grasslands, and an additional 144 colonies at Thunder Basin.
To obtain data on plague occurrence associated with black-tailed prairie dogs, our research team has contacted more than 100 people involved in black-tailed prairie dog management and plague surveillance from Montana to Mexico. Eighty-seven people have responded and offered data on plague or prairie dog colony locations, or contacts for such data.
We have an excellent and growing GIS database, which includes plague and prairie dog colony information for Colorado, supplied to us by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Fort Collins, CO. We also have good information on the locations of plague in central Montana. For these and other areas, we also have compiled information and reports on locations of plague positive and negative animals including deer mice, coyotes, foxes, and badgers. We have contacted and are working with organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, the Turner Endangered Species Foundation, the Ecosystem Center, and the Predator Conservation Alliance, all of which have shared GIS data with us.
For the Colorado Front Range, we have conducted preliminary spatial analyses that examine landscape context of plagued prairie dog colonies using Colorado GAP land cover data and Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO) soils data from the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). We also are compiling temperature, precipitation, and snowfall records from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) to examine relationships between climate and plague occurrence.
Future Activities:
Future activities involve another 2-day meeting in late January 2003, to discuss research progress and plans for the upcoming field season. Starting in May 2003, we will conduct live-trapping of prairie dogs and other rodent species to collect information on distribution and abundance of rodents, and to collect fleas and blood for disease screening. Additionally, we will continue to build the GIS database on plague occurrence and prairie dog distribution using data from other states that are still in the beginning phase of monitoring prairie dogs and finalizing data for public distribution.
With the field data that we will collect in summer 2003, we will develop general mathematical models addressing the importance of habitat and community structure on the risks resulting from diseases that infect multiple host species, and specific models for predicting the risk of disease outbreaks in the black-tailed prairie dog in different landscapes. These models should illustrate the potential for multiple stressors (habitat alteration, community alteration, and introduced disease) to influence population risk.
Additionally, we are developing a Web-based Internet Mapping Server that will allow people involved in prairie dog conservation, management, and plague surveillance to visit the Web Site, input their contact information, and click on a map on the screen on the location of prairie dog colonies that have experienced plague, or the locations of plague in species associated with prairie dog colonies. This way, we will be creating a spatially explicit up-to-date database of historical and recent plague locations in prairie dogs across their range. This database will be password protected so only those that are involved in prairie dog conservation, management, or plague surveillance will be able to add and view data online.
Journal Articles on this Report : 1 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 47 publications | 15 publications in selected types | All 12 journal articles |
|---|
| Type | Citation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Johnson WC, Collinge SK. Landscape effects on black-tailed prairie dog colonies. Biological Conservation 2004;115(3):487-497. |
R829091 (2002) R829091 (2003) R829091 (2004) R829091 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
Supplemental Keywords:
risk assessment, pathogens, ecosystem, scaling, habitat, ecology, epidemiology, modeling., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Geographic Area, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, wildlife, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, State, Environmental Monitoring, Ecological Risk Assessment, Ecology and Ecosystems, molecular epidemiology, risk assessment, ecosystem modeling, habitat, population stressors, endangered species, assessment models, ecology, ecosystem assessment, molecular diagnostics, animal responses, environmental risks, fleas, habitat loss, Wildlife Risk Assessment, conservation, genetic testing, wildlife community structure, risk models, ecological assessment, ecological impacts, ecosystem indicators, pathogen, environmental stress, ecosystem stress, ecological models, habitat alteration, prarie dogs, disease, ecological research, Colorado (CO)Relevant Websites:
http://www.colorado.edu/epob/research/fac_collinge.html Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.