. 2010 Feb;10(1):7–15. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2009.0045

Table 1.

Colony Area and Nearest-Neighbor Distances of Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Colonies at Plague and Plague-Free Sites

Study site	Year	Habitat area (ha)	No. of colonies	Area (ha)	% Coverage	Mean area (ha)	SE area (ha)	Grouping area	Mean NN (m)	SE NN (m)	Grouping NN
Plague-free sites
BC	2004^a	63,000	303	11,561	18.35	38	12.54		768	57.80
WC	2003^a	3468	19	756	21.8	39	16.92		863	189.90
Plague present
CIM	2001	34,174	49	1068	3.13	20	3.90	A	1538	183.87
	2002		54	1344	3.93	24	4.22	AB	1332	155.46
	2003		57	1622	4.75	28	4.79	AB	1308	143.63
	2004		54	2280	6.67	42	7.01	B	1271	142.16
	2005		51	2342	6.85	45	7.65	B	1319	148.43
	Mean			1557	4.56	29			1405
COM	1999^a	155,016	78	799	0.52	10	1.40	A	2260	219.67	A
	2001		93	1757	1.13	18	2.12	B	2267	190.07	A
	2002		105	2497	1.61	23	3.02	BC	2219	191.30	A
	2003		111	2680	1.73	24	2.64	BC	1975	187.51	B
	2004		125	4810	3.10	40	4.37	C	1711	166.57	B
	2005		119	6323	4.08	46	6.13	C	1329	151.70	C
	Mean			3144	2.03	27			1960
KRB	1999^a	40,749	38	696	1.71	18	4.31	A	3016	935.84
	2001		44	1663	4.08	38	5.36	B	2050	331.39
	2002		64	2186	5.36	34	4.94	B	1815	221.64
	2003		65	2740	6.72	42	6.16	B	1724	240.07
	2004		71	1809	4.44	25	4.99	A	1481	199.32
	2005		71	1236	3.03	17	4.48	C	1328	185.27
	Mean			1721	4.22	29			1902
TB	2001	157,852	96	9296	5.89	95	25.59	A	1664	174.22
	2002		130	1750	1.11	13	3.11	B	1563	164.03
	2003		135	2278	1.44	17	2.94	C	1597	163.01
	2004		146	3847	2.44	26	4.06	C	1425	160.73
	Mean			4292	2.72	38			1562

At plague sites, bold for the year indicates that plague was active that year. Grouping indicates years that shared letters were not significantly different. If no letters are present for a site, then mean area or nearest neighbor (NN) distance did not differ among years.

^{^a}

Data supplied by area staff.

BC, Badlands/Conata Basin; WC, Wind Cave; CIM, Cimarron; COM, Comanche; KRB, Kiowa and Rita Blanca; TB, Thunder Basin.