Short Grasslands

fact sheet #3

Once considered North America’s “Serengeti” for its abundance and variety of wildlife, the Great Plains has been almost entirely converted to farming, ranching, or real estate development. Globally, temperate grasslands are now considered to be the most altered and imperiled ecosystem (Ceballos et al. 2010; Henwood 2010; Savage 2011). Shortsighted land management policies led to aggressive human settlement, conversion to cropland, and overgrazing of the shortgrass prairie. The result was the Great Dust Bowl of the 1930s (e.g., Flores 1996; Savage 2011). Conservation biologists describe prairie conservation as, “perhaps the highest priority,” in conserving North American agricultural and natural resources (Sampson and Knopf 1996: xi). Despite some reform, the government still expends significant time, money, and energy maintaining land uses that are largely incompatible with the regional ecology.

As a result, dozens of Great Plains species are imperiled and some wider-ranging species occur at low levels or have been extirpated in the region. Many grasslands species are currently listed as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) or are well on their way to such status. Important examples include the blackfooted ferret (Mustela nigripes), listed as endangered (50 C.F.R. § 17.11); the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), a candidate for ESA listing since June 1998 (63 Fed. Reg. 31400-06); and the Sprague’s pipit (Anthus spragueii), a candidate for ESA listing since September 2010 (75 Fed. Reg. 56028-50). Wolves (Canis lupus), grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis), and large elk herds (Cervus elaphus) have long been extirpated from the shortgrass region.

The black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) has declined by as much as 98% in the last century due to extermination campaigns, non-native disease, and habitat destruction (e.g., Miller et al. 1994, 2007; Hoogland 2006). Gone from the Great Plains are extensive prairie dog complexes—large mosaics of colonized and uncolonized areas that supported black-footed ferrets, seemingly endless herds of bison, and at least 150 other vertebrate wildlife species. Indeed, the dramatic decline in prairie dogs is directly linked to the imperilment of other prairie natives: the swift fox (Vulpes velox), mountain plover (Charadrius montanus), burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia), and ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) among the most notable. States Savage (2011: 23), “Over the last two hundred years, human beings have hit the prairies with the force of a major geological crisis...”

While ecosystems in the Great Plains continue to be degraded by extractive land uses, scientists are recording tremendously important biological and ecological values in the region. Researchers have shown that black-tailed prairie dogs play inordinately influential ecological roles, earning them recognition as a keystone and strongly interactive species (e.g., Barko et al. 1999; Manzano-Fischer et al. 1999; Kotliar et al. 1999; Kotliar 2000; Miller et al. 2000). Scientists have also demonstrated that the historic and continued  persecution of prairie dogs is not economically or ecologically sound (Miller et al. 2007). Bison are likewise increasingly being  ecognized for their strong ecological functions and are a species of conservation concern (Callenbach 1996; Lott 2002; Freilich 2003;  Gates et al. 2010). 

Despite the growing body of knowledge about shortgrass prairie ecosystems and the values in our region, along with acknowledgement of the need to escalate conservation efforts, grasslands species continue to suffer from neglect. The black-tailed prairie dog, despite  being a candidate for ESA listing from 2000-2004 (69 Fed. Reg. 51217-26), now enjoys no federal status. Sylvatic plague has since  expanded to all states within its range. Prairie dogs have virtually no immunity to this disease, which most recently swept through the  Southern Plains in 2005-2007, depleting and extirpating prairie dog colonies throughout the region (Augustine et al. 2008; Johnson et al. 2011).

References

Augustine, D. J., Matchett, M.R., Toombs, T.P., Cully Jr., J.F., Johnson, T.L., and J.G. Sidle. (2008). “Spatiotemporal dynamics of black-tailed prairie dog colonies affected by plague.” Landscape Ecol. 23: 255-267.
Barko, Valerie A., James H. Shaw, and David M. Leslie, Jr. (1999). “Birds associated with black-tailed prairie dog colonies in southern shortgrass prairie.” The Southwestern Naturalist 44(4): 484-489.
Callenbach, E. (1996). Bring Back the Buffalo! A Sustainable Future for America's Great Plains. Washington, DC, Island Press.
Ceballos, G., Davidson, A., List, R., Pacheco, J., Manzano-Fischer, P., Santos-Barrera, G., and J. Cruzado. (2010). “Rapid Decline of a Grassland System and Its Ecological and Conservation Implications.” PLoS ONE 5(1): e8562 (1-12).
Flores, D. L. (1996). “A long love affair with an uncommon country: environmental history and the Great Plains.” Prairie Conservation. F. B. Sampson, F.L. Knopf. Washington, DC, Island Press: 3-17.
Freilich, J. E. (2003). “Ecological effects of ranching: a six-point critique.” BioScience 53(8): 759-766.
Gates, C.C., Freese, C.H., Gogan, P.J.P. and Kotzman, M. (eds. and comps.) (2010). “American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010.” Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. Online at: http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/american_bison_report.pdf [Accessed August 2011].
Henwood, W. D. (2010). “Toward a strategy for the conservation and protection of the world's temperate grasslands.” Great Plains Research 20(Spring 2010): 121-34. Hoogland, J. L. (2006). Ed. Conservation of the Black-tailed Prairie Dog: Saving North America's Western Grasslands. Washington, DC, Island Press.
Johnson, T. L., Cully Jr., J.F., Collinge, S.K., Ray, C., Frey, C.M., and B.K. Sandercock (2011). "Spread of plague among black-tailed prairie dogs is associated with colony spatial characteristics." Journal of Wildlife Management 75(2): 357-368.
Kotliar, N. B. (2000). “Application of the new keystone-species concept to prairie dogs:how well does it work?” Conservation Biology 14(6): 1715-21.
Kotliar, Natasha B., Bruce W. Baker, April D. Whicker, Glenn Plumb. 1999. “A critical review of assumptions about the prairie dog as a keystone species.” Environmental Management 24(2): 177-192.