Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU

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The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research into plague as a disrupting force in ecosystems of the western U.S. This non-native disease, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, continues to impact grassland communities occupied by populations of federally endangered black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs in the western United States, but is also found in numerous other ecosystems. The range of conservation issues created by plague from the Pacific coast to the Great Plains is unknown, but over half of the U.S rodent species of conservation concern occur within the range of plague, and ripple effects from plague could extend in many directions throughout ecosystems via mechanisms such as altered competition and predator-prey relationships.

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