Do black‐tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) colonies attract foraging bats?

Abstract

Black‐tailed prairie dog (BTPD) colonies are known to be hotbeds of biodiversity. Manipulation of landscape by BTPDs increases plant and animal diversity in grasslands, and thus BTPDs are considered ecosystem engineers. If BTPD colonies induce increases in insect diversity in the eastern foothills of Colorado, as shown for other areas, it stands to reason that insectivorous bats may respond by increasing their activity in those areas. I tested this hypothesis in the north‐eastern foothills habitat of Colorado, USA, by surveying for echolocation calls within four BTPD colonies and adjacent reference sites lacking BTPD burrows. Results show that bats were significantly more active in BTPD colonies than at adjacent reference sites. In addition, of the nine resident bat species, small‐footed myotis (Myotis ciliolabrum) showed the most consistent relationship with BTPD colonies. Other species that were more active in BTPD colonies included little brown myotis (M. lucifugus), fringed myotis (M. thysanodes), big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), and hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus). The typically forest‐edge adapted species, M. ciliolabrum, and M. thysanodes a forest‐adapted specialist, were active more than expected in treeless BTPD colonies indicating the BTPD colonies are providing a resource not present outside colony perimeters. This study provides the first evidence of a relationship between BTPD colonies and bats in western North America.