Prairie dogs are burrowing rodents that live in grasslands. what makes the prairie dog a keystone species in the ecosystem? a) prairie dogs are the main source of food for wolves and coyotes in the grassland. b) prairie dogs are the species with the largest number of individuals in the grassland ecosystem. c) they successfully compete with the other herbivores for grass and are a major threat to these species. d) their tunnels act as conduits for rain water to seep into the ground, thereby promoting the growth of grass.

Answer is  D. Their tunnels act as conduits for rain water to seep into the ground, thereby promoting the growth of grass.

Prairie dogs are the rodents which make burrows. These prairie dogs live that burrows in large colonies in the grasslands. Prairie dogs are regarded as a “keystone” species because their habitats provide benefits to lot of other species. A number of species such as tiger salamander use their burrows as their homes. Most importantly prairie dogs aerate and fertilize the soil as their burrows act as conduits for rain water to seep into the ground, thereby promoting the growth of grass. This promote greater diversity of plants in that region.

in situ hybridization has been widely used for research applications, including clinical cytogenetics, gene mapping, tumor biology and studies of chromosome evolution.

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