@conference {50385, title = {Can prairie dog-cattle interactions be used to remediate desertified Chihuahuan Desert grasslands?}, booktitle = {Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting}, year = {2007}, month = {08/2007}, pages = {PS 39-205}, address = {San Jose, CA}, abstract = {

Chihuahuan Desert grasslands are undergoing a rapid transition to desert scrub conditions. In an effort to remove prairie dogs that are believed to compete with cattle, pastoralists have created a cascade of events promoting shrub expansion and severely reducing the viability of pastoralism within many Chihuahuan Desert ecosystems. The resulting desertification leads to depauperate socio-ecological conditions, with attempts to remediate desertified landscapes often being tenuous and seldom cost effective. The goal of this and other studies are to develop a better understanding of ecosystem drivers, and their interactions, within the Janos-Nuevo Casas Grandes prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) complex in northwest Chihuahua. Beef cattle (Bos taurus) habitat selection was measured on a desert grassland-prairie dog ecosystem using GPS, GIS, and remote sensing technologies inside 4 x 4 km pasture. To classify vegetation we used multispectral Quickbird imagery with 60 cm resolution and eCognition software. We grouped the vegetation in 6 different types: Aristida spp. (50\%), Pleuraphis mutica (8\%), Panicum obtusum (8\%), Bouteloa gracilis (15\%), Amaranthus palmeri (4\%) and prairie dog colonies (15\%). Analyses of cattle movements during the dormant season show a direct preference for the prairie dog colonies, with minimal use of other vegetation types. In smaller scale studies beef cattle showed a preference for forages near the margins of the prairie dog colonies. From these observations we further hypothesize that cattle may help maintain black-tailed prairie dog colonies via mutualistic interactions that may promote the formation and maintenance of Chihuahuan Desert grasslands in this region.

}, keywords = {cattle, prairie dog}, author = {Sierra Corona, R. and E.L. Fredrickson and G. Ceballos and Amy L. Gonzalez and Andrea S. Laliberte and A.D. Davidson and Sanchez, R.L. and G. Bezanilla and Gevara, E.P.} }