Abstract - Differential Nepotism and Sex Ratio Selection in the Black-tailed Prairie Dog (Sciuridae: Cynomys ludovicianus)

Hoogland, John L. and Tordoff, Harrison B. 1977. Differential Nepotism and Sex Ratio Selection in the Black-tailed Prairie Dog (Sciuridae: Cynomys ludovicianus). 45 p.

Abstract

For my Ph.D. research, I have completed a three-year std\udy of the costs and benefits of coloniality in two species of prairie dogs (Rodential: Sciuridae): loosely colonial White-tailed Prairie Dogs (Cynomys leucurus) and densely colonial Black-tailed Prairie Dogs (C. ludovicianus). Abstracts of my dissertation chapters are enclosed with this application. During my study, I conducted a thorough ear-tagging, color-marking program at one large Black-tail colony. As a consequence of this program, I am now prepared and equipped to deal with some of the most significant and difficult problems faced by today's biologists. Specifically, I am in a unique position to investigate questions of differential nepotism, life history patterns, sex ratio selection, the evolution of territoriality, and the evolution of alarm calls. These questions and how I plan to examine them are explained in the following pages.