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Effects of Land-Use Change on Wildlife Habitat: Applying Ecological Principles and Guidelines in the Western United States

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Applying Ecological Principles to Land Management

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Abstract

We discuss ecological principles relevant to impacts of land-use change on wildlife in the Rocky Mountain West. This discussion proceeds in three parts. We first review the history of declines in abundance and distribution of black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains to illustrate how failure to apply ecological principles to land use can do lasting harm to natural and human systems. The long-term decline of prairie-dog populations has resulted in the loss of an important agent of natural disturbance, which led to shifts in plant community structure and composition over large areas, and has created effects that reverberate through food webs. We discuss how anthropogenic sources of changes in land cover have fragmented the naturally heterogeneous pattern of distribution of prairie dog populations. We next focus on current stressors in the region associated with growth of the human population, making the case that the region is likely to continue the rapid pace of change seen during the last decade. Finally, we discuss guidelines developed by Dale et al. (Chapter 1) in relation to impacts of development on wildlife in the Rocky Mountain West. We emphasize the need to inform local decisions with the best available ecological data and cite examples from our work in Colorado to illustrate efforts to incorporate guidelines in land-use planning by counties and municipalities.

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Authors
  1. N. Thompson Hobbs
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  2. David M. Theobald
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831-6036, USA

    Virginia H. Dale

  2. 1712 Johnson Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20009, USA

    Richard A. Haeuber

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© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Hobbs, N.T., Theobald, D.M. (2001). Effects of Land-Use Change on Wildlife Habitat: Applying Ecological Principles and Guidelines in the Western United States. In: Dale, V.H., Haeuber, R.A. (eds) Applying Ecological Principles to Land Management. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0099-1_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0099-1_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-95100-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0099-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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