Journal Article

Landscape Composition and Proximity to Water Affect American Badger Occupancy in Shortgrass Prairies

Piper, Colleen W., Ricketts, Andrew M., Peek, Matt S., Ahlers, Adam A., Werdel, Ty J., Sullins, Daniel S.

2026

Overview

Land use change in prairie ecosystems is pervasive. Prairie obligate species may be affected by these changes, though many carnivore‐specific examples are unknown. We used 3 years (2018–2020) of camera‐trap ( n = 381) data from Kansas, USA, to assess multiscale effects of landscape composition on habitat use by American badgers (badger, Taxidea taxus ). We predicted that site occupancy and colonization would be positively associated with the amount of prairie surrounding sites. We also predicted that site occupancy and colonization would be negatively related to amounts of agriculture and the number of wind towers surrounding sites. Badgers were insensitive to amounts of prairie surrounding sites and likely to occupy and colonize sites surrounded by row‐crop agriculture. Badgers were also less likely to occupy sites farther from permanent water. Badgers may be exploiting agricultural areas because of increased prey densities or suitable burrowing substrates. Moreover, our study highlights the importance of water resources to badgers in arid regions. 草原生态系统中土地利用变化非常普遍。草原专性物种可能会受到这些变化的影响, 尽管许多食肉动物特有的例子尚不清楚。利用美国堪萨斯州3年 (2018 ‐ 2020 年) 的相机陷阱 (n = 381) 数据, 评估了景观组成对美洲獾 ( Taxidea taxus ) 栖息地利用的多尺度影响。我们预测, 位点占域率和定居率与位点周围的草原面积呈正相关。我们还预测, 位点占域率和定居率与周围的农业面积和风力发电塔数量呈负相关。美洲獾对位点周围的草原面积不敏感, 并且很可能占域和定居在被成行作物农业包围的位点。美洲獾不太可能占域离永久性水源较远的位点。美洲獾可能因为猎物密度增加或适宜的挖掘土壤基质而利用农业区域。此外, 我们的研究强调了水资源对干旱地区美洲獾的重要性。