The bubonic plague that is wiping out black-tailed prairie-dog populations in northern Colorado will be the subject of a study by Paul Stapp, a biologist at California State University, Fullerton.

Stapp was awarded $472,000 by the National Science Foundation to collaborate with Colorado State University researchers to "find out what becomes of plague- causing bacteria when a prairie dog colony is decimated, and how plague moves from an infected to an uninfected colony," Cal State Fullerton officials say in a statement.

Stapp also will examine how such climatic events as El Niño contribute to the outbreak of bubonic plague. He will do most of his research north of Denver.