scholarly journals Comparing stability in random forest models to map Northern Great Plains plant communities in pastures occupied by prairie dogs using Pleiades imagery

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1281-1292
Author(s):  
Jameson R. Brennan ◽  
Patricia S. Johnson ◽  
Niall P. Hanan
Keyword(s):  
Random Forest ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Cynomys Ludovicianus ◽  
Prairie Dogs ◽  
Northern Great Plains ◽  
Prairie Dog ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) have been described as a keystone species and are important for grassland conservation, yet many concerns exist over the impact of prairie dogs on plant biomass production and consequently livestock production. The ability to map plant communities in pastures colonized by prairie dogs can provide land managers with an opportunity to optimize rangeland production while balancing conservation goals. The aim of this study was to test the ability of random forest (RF) models to classify five plant communities located on and off prairie dog towns in mixed-grass prairie landscapes of north central South Dakota, assess the stability of RF models among different years, and determine the utility of utilizing remote sensing techniques to identify prairie dog colony extent. During 2015 and 2016, Pleiades satellites were tasked to image the study site for a total of five monthly collections each summer (June–October). Training polygons were mapped in 2016 for the five plant communities and used to train RF models. Both the 2015 and 2016 RF models had low (1 %) out-of-bag error rates. However, comparisons between the predicted plant community maps using the 2015 imagery and one created with the 2016 imagery indicate over 32.9 % of pixels changed plant community class between 2015 and 2016. The results show that while RF models may predict with a high degree of accuracy, overlap of plant communities and interannual differences in rainfall may cause instability in fitted models. A final RF model combining both 2015 and 2016 data yielded the lowest error rates and was also highly accurate in determining prairie dog colony boundaries.

scholarly journals Comparing Stability in Random Forest Models to Map Northern Great Plains Plant Communities Using 2015 and 2016 Pleiades Imagery

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jameson Brennan ◽  
Patricia Johnson ◽  
Niall Hanan
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Random Forest ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Northern Great Plains ◽  
Plant Structure ◽  
Prairie Dog ◽  
Sensing Applications ◽  
High Resolution Imagery ◽  
Misclassification Rates

Abstract. The use of high resolution imagery in remote sensing has the potential to improve understanding of patch level variability in plant structure and community composition that may be lost at coarser scales. Random forest (RF) is a machine learning technique that has gained considerable traction in remote sensing applications due to its ability to produce accurate classifications with highly dimensional data and relatively efficient computing times. The aim of this study was to test the ability of RF to classify five plant communities located both on and off prairie dog towns in mixed grass prairie landscapes of north central South Dakota, and assess the stability of RF models among different years. During 2015 and 2016, Pleiades satellites were tasked to image the study site for a total of five monthly collections each summer (June–October). Training polygons were mapped in 2016 for the five plant communities and used to train separate 2015 and 2016 RF models. The RF models for 2015 and 2016 were highly effective at predicting different vegetation types associated with, and remote from, prairie dog towns (misclassification rates

scholarly journals PLANT COMMUNITY CHANGE ACROSS THE PALEOCENE-EOCENE BOUNDARY IN THE GULF COASTAL PLAIN, CENTRAL TEXAS

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer D. Wagner ◽  
Daniel J. Peppe ◽  
Jennifer M.K. O'Keefe ◽  
Christopher Dennison
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Community Change ◽  
Northern Great Plains ◽  
Gulf Coastal Plain ◽  
High Turnover ◽  
Future Global Warming ◽  
Central Texas

During the early Paleogene the Earth experienced long-term global warming punctuated by several short-term ‘hyperthermal’ events, the most pronounced of which is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). During this time, tropical climates expanded into extra-tropical areas potentially forming a wide band of ‘paratropical’ forests that are hypothesized to have expanded into the mid-latitude Northern Great Plains (NGP). Relatively little is known about these ‘paratropical’ floras, which would have extended across the Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP). This study assesses the preserved floras from the GCP in Central Texas before and after the PETM to define plant ecosystem changes associated with the hyperthermal event in this region. These floras suggest a high turnover rate, change in plant community composition, and uniform plant communities across the GCP at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. Paleoecology and paleoclimate estimates from Central Texas PETM floras suggest a warm and wet environment, indicative of tropical seasonal forest to tropical rainforest biomes. Fossil evidence from the GCP combined with data from the NGP and modern tropics suggest that warming during the PETM helped create a ‘paratropical belt’ that extended into the mid-latitudes. Evaluating the response of plant communities to rapid global warming is important for understanding and preparing for current and future global warming and climate change.

scholarly journals Observations of Bobcats, Lynx rufus, Hunting Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs, Cynomys ludovicianus, in Western South Dakota

2010 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel S. Licht
Keyword(s):  
South Dakota ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Lynx Rufus ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cynomys Ludovicianus ◽  
Prairie Dogs ◽  
Prairie Dog ◽  
Winter Diet ◽  
Hunting Strategies ◽  
Close Proximity

There is a paucity of scientific literature describing Bobcat (Lynx rufus) hunting strategies. I document 13 observations of Bobcats hunting Black-tailed Prairie Dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) in western South Dakota. In all cases the Bobcats stationed themselves next to a prairie dog mound in an attempt to ambush prairie dogs emerging from their burrows. In eight cases the Bobcats successfully captured a prairie dog emerging from the burrow, in one case the Bobcat turned and captured a prairie dog that had walked up behind it, and in the other cases the Bobcats lunged at the burrow openings, but did not capture a prairie dog. There were two variations of the tactic: in some cases Bobcats entered a colony prior to prairie dog emergence and stationed themselves next to a mound, whereas in other cases Bobcats stationed themselves next to a burrow that a prairie dog had just escaped to. One Bobcat appeared to have waited next to the same mound for at least 7.5 hr. Prairie dogs may comprise a large portion of a Bobcat's winter diet in landscapes where prairie dog colonies exist in close proximity to badlands or woody cover.

scholarly journals Catch the wave: prairie dogs assess neighbours’ awareness using contagious displays

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1777) ◽  
pp. 20132153 ◽  
Author(s):  
James F. Hare ◽  
Kevin L. Campbell ◽  
Robert W. Senkiw
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Group Size ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Cynomys Ludovicianus ◽  
Prairie Dogs ◽  
Social Awareness ◽  
Prairie Dog ◽  
Active Probing

The jump–yip display of black-tailed prairie dogs ( Cynomys ludovicianus ) is contagious, spreading through a prairie dog town as ‘the wave’ through a stadium. Because contagious communication in primates serves to assess conspecific social awareness, we investigated whether instigators of jump–yip bouts adjusted their behaviour relative to the response of conspecifics recruited to display bouts. Increased responsiveness of neighbouring town members resulted in bout initiators devoting a significantly greater proportion of time to active foraging. Contagious jump–yips thus function to assess neighbours’ alertness, soliciting social information to assess effective conspecific group size in real time and reveal active probing of conspecific awareness consistent with theory of mind in these group-living rodents.

scholarly journals Social Behavior of Captive Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs (Mammalia, Rodentia) with Changing Numbers of Observers

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. e-25-e-32
Author(s):  
A. Eltorai ◽  
R. Sussman
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Cynomys Ludovicianus ◽  
Prairie Dogs ◽  
Captive Population ◽  
Prairie Dog ◽  
Model Species ◽  
Rich Variety ◽  
The Rich

Social Behavior of Captive Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs (Mammalia, Rodentia) with Changing Numbers of Observers Black-tailed prairie dogs Cynomys ludovicianus (Ord, 1815) are diurnal rodents that live in intricate cities. Their social complexity rivals that of some primates, and, in some respects, resembles the behavior of humans. Due to the rich variety of readily-observable, sophisticated behaviors such as coloniality, infanticide, anti-predator behaviors, "kin recognition", cooperation, conflict, and reproductive success, the black-tailed prairie dog is a wonderful model species for the study of behavior. Using a captive population, we were able to quantify the effects of observation on key social behaviors.

scholarly journals Short-term climate-induced change in French plant communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 20190280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Martin ◽  
Vincent Devictor ◽  
Eric Motard ◽  
Nathalie Machon ◽  
Emmanuelle Porcher
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Thermal Preference ◽  
Plant Community Composition ◽  
Large Area ◽  
High Dispersal ◽  
Short Period ◽  
The Impact

Latitudinal and altitudinal range shifts in response to climate change have been reported for numerous animal species, especially those with high dispersal capacities. In plants, the impact of climate change on species distribution or community composition has been documented mainly over long periods (decades) and in specific habitats, often forests. Here, we broaden the results of such long-term, focused studies by examining climate-driven changes in plant community composition over a large area (France) encompassing multiple habitat types and over a short period (2009–2017). To this end, we measured mean community thermal preference, calculated as the community-weighted mean of the Ellenberg temperature indicator value, using data from a standardized participatory monitoring scheme. We report a rapid increase in the mean thermal preference of plant communities at national and regional scales, which we relate to climate change. This reshuffling of plant community composition corresponds to a relative increase in the abundance of warm- versus cold-adapted species. However, support for this trend was weaker when considering only the common species, including common annuals. Our results thus suggest for the first time that the response of plant communities to climate change involves subtle changes affecting all species rare and common, which can nonetheless be detected over short time periods. Whether such changes are sufficient to cope with the current climate warming remains to be ascertained.

Coyote (Canis latrans) predation of colonial rodents facilitated by Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos)

2021 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-123
Author(s):  
Thomas S. Jung
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Canis Latrans ◽  
Cynomys Ludovicianus ◽  
Prairie Dogs ◽  
Scientific Interest ◽  
Prairie Dog ◽  
Aquila Chrysaetos ◽  
Avian Predators ◽  
Large Colony ◽  
Golden Eagles

Interactions between Coyote (Canis latrans) and Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) are complex and likely not yet fully documented or understood. I observed a Coyote prey on a Black-tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) at the edge of a large colony in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan. The prairie dogs were vigilant toward three Golden Eagles circling above, and the Coyote apparently used this to its advantage. As such, the eagles appeared to facilitate the ability of the Coyote to rush in virtually undetected and prey on a prairie dog that was distracted by the avian predators. This observation is of scientific interest because it is another example of the varied interactions between Coyotes and Golden Eagles, which is competitive and includes kleptoparasitism.

The ontogeny of individuality in black-tailed prairie dogs, Cynomys ludovicianus

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (7) ◽  
pp. 1280-1286 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Loughry ◽  
Andreas Lazari
Keyword(s):  
Time Allocation ◽  
Cynomys Ludovicianus ◽  
Prairie Dogs ◽  
Time Budgets ◽  
Contextual Influences ◽  
Prairie Dog ◽  
Percent Correct ◽  
Allocation Patterns ◽  
Young Of The Year ◽  
Individual Distinctiveness

We examined the ontogeny of individual distinctiveness in time-allocation patterns of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus). All adults and yearlings (n = 112) in the study colony were observed in 14 separate samples, beginning in early April and ending in mid-August. Pups (young of the year, n = 105) were observed in the last 11 of these samples, beginning with their first emergence above ground in late May to early June. Discriminability was determined using a Monte Carlo procedure that randomly selected data from 20 individuals; these data were then entered into a discriminant analysis and this procedure was repeated 100 times. The percent correct classification from these runs was averaged to produce a mean discriminability score. We found that (i) overall, individual pups were discriminable at levels three times higher than that expected by chance alone, (ii) pup discriminability declined significantly over the summer and yearlings had lower discriminability scores than did pups, (iii) average discriminability increased from yearlings to adults and adult values were significantly higher than those for pups, (iv) with the exception of mothers (who had the lowest discriminability values of any group tested), all sex and parental groups of older prairie dogs were significantly more discriminable than were pups, (v) distinctiveness among pups did not appear to be a result of differences between litters, and (vi) measures of behavioral bout lengths proved no better at discriminating individuals than time budgets. The results indicate that the ontogeny of individuality in prairie dog time budgets is not a simple linear function and that discriminability may be constrained by a number of contextual influences.

scholarly journals Within-species phylogenetic relatedness of a common mycorrhizal fungus affects evenness in plant communities through effects on dominant species

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romain Savary ◽  
Lucas Villard ◽  
Ian R. Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungus ◽  
Species Variation ◽  
Plant Community Structure ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Differential Effects ◽  
The Impact

AbstractArbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have been shown to influence plant community structure and diversity. Studies based on single plant - single AMF isolate experiments show that within AMF species variation leads to large differential growth responses of different plant species. Because of these differential effects, genetic differences among isolates of an AMF species could potentially have strong effects on the structure of plant communities.We tested the hypothesis that within species variation in the AMF R. irregularis significantly affects plant community structure and plant co-existence. We took advantage of a recent genetic characterization of several isolates using double-digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq). This allowed us to test not only for the impact of within AMF species variation on plant community structure but also for the role of the R. irregularis phylogeny on plant community metrics. Nine isolates of R. irregularis, belonging to three different genetic groups (Gp1, Gp3 and Gp4), were used as either single inoculum or as mixed diversity inoculum. Plants in a mesocosm representing common species that naturally co-exist in European grasslands were inoculated with the different AMF treatments.We found that within-species differences in R. irregularis did not strongly influence the performance of individual plants or the structure of the overall plant community. However, the evenness of the plant community was affected by the phylogeny of the fungal isolates, where more closely-related AMF isolates were more likely to affect plant community evenness in a similar way compared to more genetically distant isolates.This study underlines the effect of within AMF species variability on plant community structure. While differential effects of the AMF isolates were not strong, a single AMF species had enough functional variability to change the equilibrium of a plant community in a way that is associated with the evolutionary history of the fungus.

scholarly journals Antigonon leptopus invasion is associated with plant community disassembly in a Caribbean island ecosystem

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarten B. Eppinga ◽  
Elizabeth A. Haber ◽  
Luke Sweeney ◽  
Maria J. Santos ◽  
Max Rietkerk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Community Structure ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Tropical Islands ◽  
Caribbean Island ◽  
Occurrence Patterns ◽  
The Impact

AbstractInvasions by non-native plant species are widely recognized as a major driver of biodiversity loss. Globally, (sub-)tropical islands form important components of biodiversity hotspots, while being particularly susceptible to invasions by plants in general and vines in particular. We studied the impact of the invasive vine A. leptopus on the diversity and structure of recipient plant communities on the northern Caribbean island St. Eustatius. We used a paired-plot design to study differences in species richness, evenness and community structure under A. leptopus-invaded and uninvaded conditions. Community structure was studied through species co-occurrence patterns. We found that in plots invaded by A. leptopus, species richness was 40–50% lower, and these plots also exhibited lower evenness. The magnitude of these negative impacts increased with increasing cover of A. leptopus. Invaded plots also showed higher degrees of homogeneity in species composition. Species co-occurrence patterns indicated that plant communities in uninvaded plots were characterized by segregation, whereas recipient plant communities in invaded plots exhibited random co-occurrence patterns. These observations suggest that invasion of A. leptopus is not only associated with reduced species richness and evenness of recipient communities in invaded sites, but also with a community disassembly process that may reduce diversity between sites. Given that A. leptopus is a successful invader of (sub-)tropical islands around the globe, these impacts on plant community structure highlight that this invasive species could be a particular conservation concern for these systems.

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