The tempo and mode of gopher mound production in a tallgrass prairie remnant

To gain better insight into how small-scale disturbances might affect ecological processes, such as the maintenance of plant species diversify, we conducted a two-year study characterizing spatio-temporal patterns of gopher mound production on a tallgrass prairie remnant located at Anderson Prairie, Iowa, USA. The locations of all newly produced gopher mounds were mapped on two 80 x 80 m permanent plots. We used these data to characterize spatio-temporal patterns of mound production across a range of scales. We found that mound production was highly clustered at scales of < 8 m over short periods of time (< 2 weeks), but shifted in location over a 3-4 weeks time period, resulting in a clustered pattern at scales of < 20 m over longer time periods (up to the 2 yr of the study). We also found that patterns of mound production at intermediate spatial scales (> 20 m) remained fairly static over time, although they differed significantly from site to site. The results of this study suggest that small-scale patterns of variability in mound production may increase habitat variability over very short spatial scales, possibly providing a mechanism that can enhance the development and maintenance of species diversity.