1. A Survey of Reintroduced Gunnison’s Prairie Dog Impacts on Chihuahuan Desert Grassland Evan Hewitt

2. 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

3. 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).

4. Chihuahuan Desert Grassland

7. Field Methods (Cont’d)

8. Results – Species Richness T-Test p-value = 0.197692221 No significant difference between treatments on species richness.

9. Results – Total Biomass

11. Cover T-Test0.000517437 Significant p value Biomass T-Test0.363673826 Not Significant p value

12. Interpretation The data collected for this study does not readily reflect the impact of GPD on vegetation. Temporal scale, methodological Climate, phenology

13. Future Yearly and seasonal data collection Augment quadrat sampling with methods such as transects with a greater spatial extent

14. Acknowledgements Partnership between NSF, USFWS, UNM that made this opportunity possible. Amaris Swann, Jon Erz, Stephanie Baker Fellow undergraduate researchers