Joe C. Truett, Michael Phillips, Kyran Kunkel, and Russell Miller
Great Plains Research 11:123-144

Abstract - Prior to their demise in the late 1800s, bison coexisted with and
helped sustain a diverse and spectacular assemblage of animals and plant
communities on the Great Plains. Bison, in concert with fire, exerted
strong control on the structure of the vegetation by grazing, trampling, and
wallowing. The changes in the vegetation induced changes in many animal
populations. These impacts, coupled with the bison’s role as the major
converter of grass to meat, so greatly affected other species that some have
called bison a “keystone” species in the Great Plains ecosystem. The
black-tailed prairie dog, dependent on bison grazing over a large part of
the Great Plains, amplified the keystone influence of bison by its own
grazing and burrowing activities and its utility as prey. Although modern
bison-growing practices usually will preclude restoration of the large
predators and scavengers that once were a part of the great faunal
spectacle, other species can return, often even on small acreages.
Maintenance of a habitat mosaic is the key to restoring some of the original
biodiversity lost to the historic pursuit of single-species pastoralism.