Data on the effects of four systemic insecticides on black-tailed prairie dog flea burdens, South Dakota, 2023-2025

During 2023-2025, we tested bait pellets weighing ~1.25 g and containing isoxazolines, phenylpyrazoles, or spinosad for flea control with black-tailed prairie dogs at Badlands National Park (2023-2024) and Wind Cave National Park (2023-2025), South Dakota, USA. Bait doses included: 0.46, 0.91, or 1.52 milligrams (mg) fipronil, 5.40 mg afoxolaner, 50.62 mg fluralaner, or 85.20 mg spinosad. Fipronil concentrations per pellet were considered “low” (0.46 mg), “medium” (0.91 mg), or “high” (1.52 mg). We conducted before-after-control-impact (BACI) experiments on 4 replicates, with treatments assigned randomly to sampling plots within replicates. Treatments were completed in July 2023. Bait applications were completed by site managers in the early morning, uniformly at 125 baits/hectare. We sampled adult fleas from live-trapped, anesthetized prairie dogs before treatments (2023) and after treatments (2024 = ~12 months posttreatments, 2025 = ~24 months posttreatments). Within each replicate, flea sampling procedures were identical, and nearly simultaneous for paired treated and nontreated plots. We anesthetized each prairie dog using isoflurane on a cotton ball in an induction chamber. We thoroughly combed each prairie dog with a fine-toothed comb over a white plastic tub for 30 sec to dislodge and count fleas. We placed fleas back on a host to minimize any removal effect. Once fully recovered from anesthesia, we released prairie dogs at their point of capture. This release includes one combined dataset, Flea_Data_2023-2025.csv, for all experimental replicates from Badlands National Park (Site=BADL, Replicate = 1 or 2) and Wind Cave National Park (Site=WICA, Replicate = 3 or 4). Each line of data in the file represents a distinct flea sample and count of fleas (Fleas) for a prairie dog sampling event. The years of sampling (Year) and treatments, noted above (Treatment), are included.