| Abstract: | Of the 3 major factors (habitat loss, poisoning, and disease) that limit abundance of prairie dogs today, sylvatic plague caused by Yersinia pestis is the 1 factor that is beyond human control. Plague epizootics frequently kill >99% of prairie dogs in infected colonies. Although epizootics of sylvatic plague occur throughout most of the range of prairie dogs in the United States and are well described, long-term maintenance of plague in enzootic rodent species is not well documented or understood. We review dynamics of plague in white-tailed (Cynomys leucurus), Gunnison‘s (C. gunnisoni), and black-tailed (C. ludovicianus) prairie dogs, and their rodent and flea associates. We use epidemiologic concepts to support an enzootic hypothesis in which the disease is maintained in a dynamic state, which requires transmission of Y. pestis to be slower than recruitment of new susceptible mammal hosts. Major effects of plague are to reduce colony size of black-tailed prairie dogs and increase intercolony distances within colony complexes. In the presence of plague, black-tailed prairie dogs will probably survive in complexes of small colonies that are usually >3 km from their nearest neighbor colonies. |
| Genre: | Article |
| ProdID: | 70023675 |
| Citation Author: | Cully, J. F. , Jr.; Williams, E. S. |
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| Citation End Page: | 905 |
| Citation Issue: | 4 |
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| Citation Language: | English |
| Citation Larger Work Title: | Journal of Mammalogy |
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| Citation Number Of Pages: | 12 |
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| Citation Search Results Text: | Interspecific comparisons of sylvatic plague in prairie dogs; 2001; Article; Journal; Journal of Mammalogy; Cully, J. F. , Jr.; Williams, E. S. |
| Citation Start Page: | 894 |
| Citation Volume: | 82 |
| Citation Year: | 2001 |
| Type: | citation/reference |
| Text: | Interspecific comparisons of sylvatic plague in prairie dogs; 2001; Article; Journal; Journal of Mammalogy; Cully, J. F. , Jr.; Williams, E. S. |
| URL (THUMBNAIL): | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg |
| URL (DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER): | http://dx.doi.org/10.1644/1545-1542(2001)082<0894:ICOSPI>2.0.CO;2 |
| Date Other: | Mon, 1 Jan 2001 00:00 -0600 |
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