EFFECTS OF PRAIRIE DOGS ON MOUND SOILS

Soil morphological and chemical changes across prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) mounds in Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota, were studied to determine the long-term effects of pedoturbation. Carbonates that moved upward in mound construction were leached and redeposited as secondary carbonates on ped faces in the mound subsoil. The premound forested soil (Eutroboralfs) at Mound 1 has been partially destroyed by mixing, and the P content of the E horizon has been increased by additions of subsoil and prairie dog excreta and carcasses. Although pedoturbation is important in soil genesis, the effect of prairie dogs is mostly restricted to the mound area, which may be in use for hundreds or thousands of years.