Black Tailed Prairie Dogs

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To expand on the previous research of John L. Hoogland, we plan to study black-tailed prairie dogs’ long-term reproductive success. We expect the long-term reproductive success will increase as the population of helpers increases. We hope to receive a $12 million grant from the National Science Foundation to complete this extensive research. We will study the black-tailed prairie dog population in an area of approximately 160 kilometers (km) within the Great Plains region of north-central Kansas weekly during breeding season for 10 years (described in further detail below). My research team will observe 50 prairie dog coteries and their burrows, who’s burrow sizes in nature are about 1.0 to 1.5 meters below the ground surface and a tunnel length …show more content…
In addition, at the end of every year (for one day in December), we will count the number of surviving offspring and compare that to the number of helpers for that breeding season. During this time, the influx of non-breeding helpers will be at its maximum to ensure offspring survival. Furthermore, we will also record the number of offspring each breeding female produces each year to determine the long-term reproductive success. We will see how these values relate to the size of the pool of non-breeding helpers.
To limit some possible human error, fifty researchers will observe the different coteries. We will rotate at random, so that each researcher observes a different set of four coteries monthly or one coterie per week throughout the month. Once a week, each researcher will observe the coterie assigned to him or her for the week from 12 pm to 4 pm, to help ensure that individuals we classify as helpers remain helpers. This rotation will add different points of view for each coterie and eliminate the error of bias created from having only one researcher studying only one …show more content…
We will produce a confidence interval from the standard deviation found among the groups within each category. To validate the data we will collect from the experimental group, we will use a chi-squared test to determine whether the recording devices affected the data. We will compare the number extrapolated from the graph for only aboveground observations, and thereby compare the number of identified aboveground helpers between the control and experimental groups. The P we produce from this statistical test has to be more than 0.05 for us to accept that our manipulation did not affect the black-tailed prairie dogs' behavior. If it is less than 0.05, we must refute our findings because we had a major impact on the black-tailed prairie dogs' behavior. We predict our finding will support Hoogland’s prediction that the increased presence of helpers will be beneficial to long-term reproductive success of black-tailed prairie
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