Landscape composition and proximity to water affect American badger occupancy in shortgrass prairies

Abstract

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.