Aboveground Counts of Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs: Temporal Nature and Relationship to Burrow Entrance Density

Black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies are important to many vertebrate populations in the shortgrass prairie ecosystem. Because it is often desirable to assess black-tailed prairie dog populations, and indirect methods generally are more economical than direct counts, we tested whether aboveground counts of black-tailed prairie dogs were related to burrow entrance densities. Higher densities of burrow entrances have been assumed to reflect higher prairie dog densities. We determined if maximum aboveground counts of black-tailed prairie dogs differed temporally in morning and evening in southwestern Kansas, compared maximum aboveground count data with burrow entrance densities, and evaluated the effect of juvenile prairie dog emergence on the temporal nature of morning and evening maximum aboveground counts. Average maximum aboveground counts varied temporally in the morning (P = 0.05) and evening (P = 0.03) but not in the morning with the emergence of juvenile prairie dogs (P = 0.23). Maximum counts were higher in the evening (P < 0.001), and differed among low, medium, or high burrow entrance density areas (P = 0.02), but not linearly.