Habitat loss and changing climate have direct impacts on native species but can also interact with disease pathogens to influence wildlife communities. In the North American Great Plains, black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are a keystone species that create important grassland habitat for numerous species and serve as prey for predators, but lethal control driven by agricultural conflict has severely reduced their abundance. Novel disease dynamics caused by epizootic plague (Yersinia pestis) within prairie dog colonies have further reduced prairie dog abundances, in turn destabilizing associated wildlife communities. We capitalized on a natural experiment, collecting data on prairie dog distributions, vegetation structure, avian abundance, and mesocarnivore and ungulate occupancy before (2015–2017) and after (2018–2019) a plague event in northeastern Wyoming, USA. Plague decimated black-tailed prairie dog populations in what was then the largest extant colony complex, reducing colony cover in the focal area from more than 10,000 ha to less than 50 ha. We documented dramatic declines in mesocarnivore occupancy and raptor abundance post-plague, with probability of occupancy or abundance approaching zero in species that rely on prairie dogs for a high proportion of their diet (e.g., ferruginous hawk [Buteo regalis], American badger [Taxidea taxus], and swift fox [Vulpes velox]). Following the plague outbreak, abnormally high precipitation in 2018 hastened vegetation recovery from prairie dog disturbance on colonies in which constant herbivory had formerly maintained shortgrass structure necessary for certain colony-associates. As a result, we observed large shifts in avian communities on former prairie dog colonies, including near-disappearance of mountain plovers (Charadrius montanus) and increases in mid-grass associated songbirds (e.g., lark bunting [Calamospiza melanocorys]). Our research highlights how precipitation can interact with disease-induced loss of a keystone species to induce drastic and rapid shifts in wildlife communities. Although grassland taxa have co-evolved with high spatiotemporal variation, fragmentation of the remaining North American rangelands paired with higher-than-historical variability in climate and disease dynamics are likely to destabilize these systems in the future.

中文翻译：

---

疾病和天气导致牧场生态系统发生快速变化，由关键物种（Cynomys ludovicianus）介导

栖息地丧失和气候变化对本地物种有直接影响，但也会与疾病病原体相互作用，从而影响野生动物群落。在北美大平原，黑尾土拨鼠 ( Cynomys ludovicianus ) 是重要的物种，为众多物种创造了重要的草原栖息地，并成为掠食者的猎物，但农业冲突导致的致命控制严重减少了它们的数量。流行性鼠疫（鼠疫耶尔森氏菌）引起的新疾病动态) 在土拨鼠群落内进一步减少了土拨鼠的数量，进而破坏了相关野生动物群落的稳定。我们利用一项自然实验，收集了美国怀俄明州东北部鼠疫事件前后（2015-2017 年）和之后（2018-2019 年）草原土拨鼠分布、植被结构、鸟类丰度以及中型食肉动物和有蹄类动物栖息情况的数据。瘟疫使当时最大的群落复合体中的黑尾土拨鼠种群大量减少，将焦点区域的群落覆盖面积从 10,000 多公顷减少到不到 50 公顷。我们记录了瘟疫后中型食肉动物的占有率和猛禽丰度的急剧下降，在大部分饮食依赖草原土拨鼠的物种中，占有率或丰度接近于零的概率（例如，铁质鹰 [Buteo regalis ]、美洲獾 [ Taxidea taxus ] 和雨狐 [ Vulpes velox ]）。鼠疫爆发后，2018 年异常高的降水量加速了草原土拨鼠对殖民地干扰的植被恢复，在这些殖民地中，不断的食草动物以前维持了某些殖民地伙伴所必需的短草结构。因此，我们观察到前草原土拨鼠栖息地的鸟类群落发生了巨大变化，包括山鸻 ( Charadrius montanus ) 的几近消失和中草相关鸣禽的增加（例如，云雀鹀 [ Calamospiza melanocorys]). 我们的研究强调了降水如何与疾病引起的关键物种丧失相互作用，从而导致野生动物群落发生剧烈而迅速的变化。尽管草原类群与高时空变异共同进化，但北美剩余牧场的破碎化以及高于历史的气候和疾病动态变异性可能会在未来破坏这些系统的稳定性。