Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) increasingly compete for available habitat with human development in the Colorado Front Range. Because the effects of increased urbanization on prairie dog colonies are unknown, we studied how landscape context affects prairie dog density in Boulder County, Colorado, USA. We used burrow density as a proxy for prairie dog density because these variables were correlated at our study sites (r=0.60). Using remotely sensed data and a GIS, we quantified percent urbanization, road density, and the percentage of other prairie dog colonies in the surrounding landscape at 200, 1000, and 2000 m from the perimeter of 22 prairie dog colonies, and compared burrow density with each landscape variable [...]
