Pocket Gophers in Ecosystems: Patterns and Mechanisms: Pocket Gophers Profoundly Affect Microtopography, Soils, Plants, And Other Animals

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

BioScience

Volume

38

Issue

11

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Publication Date

12-1988

Journal Article Version

Version of Record

First Page

786

Last Page

793

Abstract

Pocket gophers, despite their relatively small size, are an important element controlling ecosystem structure and development. Mielke (1977, p. 171) argues that "... Geomyidae provide a dynamic force to direct the biogeochemical attributes of the North American Prairie lands … [T]he activities of fossorial rodents may provide an explanation for the genesis of North American Prairie soils," and Grinnell (1923, p.148) asserts that "... our native plant life, on hill and mountainside, in canyon and mountain meadow, would soon begin to depreciate, were the gopher population completely destroyed."

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