Study Site
To expand on the previous research of John L. Hoogland, we plan to study black-tailed prairie dogs’ long-term reproductive success. We expect long-term reproductive success will increase as the population of helpers increases. We hope to receive a $12 million grant from the National Science Foundation to complete this extensive research. We will study the black-tailed prairie dog population in an area of approximately 160 kilometers (km) within the Great Plains region of north-central Kansas weekly during breeding season of 12 weeks for 10 years (described in further detail below). My research team will observe twenty-five prairie dog coteries and their burrows (Hoogland 1995). The Great Plains area, the location in which we will …show more content…
We will distinguish helpers from non-helpers in two ways. One way is to observe the helping behavior (described earlier) in non-breeding individuals. This will establish who performs helping behavior. The other way is to test genetically the offspring near the end of the year (on November 25th), we will also perform this analysis in the experimental groups. We collect blood samples (5 µL of blood) from each individual within the coterie to determine paternity of newborn offspring. We will ship these blood samples to a lab in northern Texas, where scientist will analyze them. This will verify who the non-breeders are within the coteries. Nevertheless, this last way might prove daunting due to the prairie dogs’ high probability to inbreed, which could make it hard to distinguish who is the parent due to the very close relatedness. We will apply these same conditions on the experimental groups’ aboveground …show more content…
Thereupon, we will graph the helper pool size for each coterie versus their respective long-term reproductive success. Comparison of these coteries will determine which helper pool size produces the best long-term reproductive success. We expect the groups with a larger helper pool size will have a higher long-term reproductive success when compared with smaller groups, thereby supporting our prediction.
Data Analysis and Concluding Remarks
We will analyze our data through an Excel spreadsheet in which we will graph the total offspring produced and survived versus the number of helpers present within the coteries. We will use a best-fit line to correlate the scatter plot points. The graph produced should indicate that the long-term reproductive success increases as the number of helpers increases through a positive correlated line, which would support our prediction. If there is a horizontal line produced, then the number of helpers does not influence long-term reproductive success in black-tailed prairie dogs. If there is a negative correlation between the number of helpers and black-tailed prairie dogs’ long-term reproductive success, then an increase in helpers adversely affects offspring production and
To expand on the previous research of John L. Hoogland, we plan to study black-tailed prairie dogs’ long-term reproductive success. We expect long-term reproductive success will increase as the population of helpers increases. We hope to receive a $12 million grant from the National Science Foundation to complete this extensive research. We will study the black-tailed prairie dog population in an area of approximately 160 kilometers (km) within the Great Plains region of north-central Kansas weekly during breeding season of 12 weeks for 10 years (described in further detail below). My research team will observe twenty-five prairie dog coteries and their burrows (Hoogland 1995). The Great Plains area, the location in which we will …show more content…
We will distinguish helpers from non-helpers in two ways. One way is to observe the helping behavior (described earlier) in non-breeding individuals. This will establish who performs helping behavior. The other way is to test genetically the offspring near the end of the year (on November 25th), we will also perform this analysis in the experimental groups. We collect blood samples (5 µL of blood) from each individual within the coterie to determine paternity of newborn offspring. We will ship these blood samples to a lab in northern Texas, where scientist will analyze them. This will verify who the non-breeders are within the coteries. Nevertheless, this last way might prove daunting due to the prairie dogs’ high probability to inbreed, which could make it hard to distinguish who is the parent due to the very close relatedness. We will apply these same conditions on the experimental groups’ aboveground …show more content…
Thereupon, we will graph the helper pool size for each coterie versus their respective long-term reproductive success. Comparison of these coteries will determine which helper pool size produces the best long-term reproductive success. We expect the groups with a larger helper pool size will have a higher long-term reproductive success when compared with smaller groups, thereby supporting our prediction.
Data Analysis and Concluding Remarks
We will analyze our data through an Excel spreadsheet in which we will graph the total offspring produced and survived versus the number of helpers present within the coteries. We will use a best-fit line to correlate the scatter plot points. The graph produced should indicate that the long-term reproductive success increases as the number of helpers increases through a positive correlated line, which would support our prediction. If there is a horizontal line produced, then the number of helpers does not influence long-term reproductive success in black-tailed prairie dogs. If there is a negative correlation between the number of helpers and black-tailed prairie dogs’ long-term reproductive success, then an increase in helpers adversely affects offspring production and