TY - JOUR
T1 - Potential Landscapes for Conservation of the Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Ecosystem
AU - Davidson, Ana D.
AU - Thiesen Brum, Fernanda
AU - Houts, Michael
AU - Menefee, Michael
AU - Williamson, Matt
AU - Sterling Krank, Lindsey
AU - Van Pelt, Bill
AU - Augustine, David J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, The Humane Society of the United States and The Author(s). Diversity and Distributions published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.
PY - 2025/1
Y1 - 2025/1
N2 - Aim: To identify potential landscapes for the conservation of the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus; BTPD) ecosystem, across their historical geographical range within the United States. Location: Central Grasslands of the United States. Methods: We used a structured decision analysis approach to identify landscapes with high conservation potential (HCP) for the BTPD ecosystem. Our analysis incorporated ecological, political and social factors, along with changing climate and land use to maximise long-term conservation potential. Results: The landscapes we identified with HCP (top 30% rangewide) represented 22% of the historical distribution of BTPDs and remained strongholds under projected climate change. We provide a suite of HCP area scenarios to help inform different conservation and management interests, including those that consider projected climate change and jurisdictional (state-level) boundaries. Main Conclusions: Our findings highlight the large conservation potential for BTPDs and associated species, and the maps we generated can be incorporated into other large-scale, multispecies conservation planning efforts being developed for the Central Grasslands of North America.
AB - Aim: To identify potential landscapes for the conservation of the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus; BTPD) ecosystem, across their historical geographical range within the United States. Location: Central Grasslands of the United States. Methods: We used a structured decision analysis approach to identify landscapes with high conservation potential (HCP) for the BTPD ecosystem. Our analysis incorporated ecological, political and social factors, along with changing climate and land use to maximise long-term conservation potential. Results: The landscapes we identified with HCP (top 30% rangewide) represented 22% of the historical distribution of BTPDs and remained strongholds under projected climate change. We provide a suite of HCP area scenarios to help inform different conservation and management interests, including those that consider projected climate change and jurisdictional (state-level) boundaries. Main Conclusions: Our findings highlight the large conservation potential for BTPDs and associated species, and the maps we generated can be incorporated into other large-scale, multispecies conservation planning efforts being developed for the Central Grasslands of North America.
KW - Cynomys ludovicianus
KW - black-footed ferret
KW - black-tailed prairie dogs
KW - climate change
KW - conservation planning
KW - grassland conservation
KW - keystone species
KW - prairie dog ecosystem
KW - spatial conservation prioritization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85216347909&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/ddi.13945
DO - 10.1111/ddi.13945
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85216347909
SN - 1366-9516
VL - 31
JO - Diversity and Distributions
JF - Diversity and Distributions
IS - 1
M1 - e13945
ER -
