In a recent Ecology study, researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) investigating the nutrient cycle in prairie grasslands revealed that prairie dogs and grasshoppers contribute more than much larger prairie fellows such as bison and cattle. Specifically, Welti and her colleagues studied how prairie dogs, grasshoppers, bison, and cattle contribute nutrients to grass and soil in 15 shortgrass prairie sites in northeast Montana. They found that prairie dogs were most beneficial to the prairie’s nutrient availability. Furthermore, the prairie dogs increased nitrogen, potassium, and magnesium in grass tissue. Grasslands are some of the most at-risk terrestrial environments, and North American populations of bison and prairie dogs have sharply declined since European arrival.