The Meade Basin, SW Kansas, yields a rich vertebrate fossil record from the late Cenozoic. Here, we review fossil ground squirrels (Sciuridae) from the region as a contribution to the broader Meade Basin Rodent Project. We recognize 14 species in seven genera: two species of giant ground squirrels (Paenemarmota Hibbard and Schultz, 1948) from the early Pliocene, and at least 12 species in six extant genera (Ammospermophilus Merriam, 1892; Otospermophilus Brandt, 1844; Ictidomys Allen, 1877;...

Spatial synchrony in population dynamics is a ubiquitous ecological phenomenon that can result from predator-prey interactions, synchronized environmental variation (Moran effects), or dispersal. Of these, dispersal historically has been the least well studied in natural systems, partly because of the difficulty in quantifying dispersal in situ. We hypothesized that dispersal routes of plankton were based on the major and consistent water current movements in Kentucky Lake, a large reservoir in western Kentucky, USA. Then, using...