Skip to main content
Advanced Search

Filters: Tags: Rodents (X) > Extensions: Citation (X)

6 results (22ms)   

View Results as: JSON ATOM CSV
Experiments were conducted to assess the influences of granivores on the seed bank in sagebrush-steppe. Rodent and/or ant exclosures were established at two distances from five harvester ant mounds. Monthly soil samples were collected from the exclosures, and from open access areas at two distances to ascertain changes in the seed bank. Seed dish experiments were conducted monthly to establish a maximum seed removal rate. Rodents were trapped monthly. More seeds were recovered from rodent exclosures than from ant exclosures. Seed banks changed temporally and spatially, with more seeds recovered in September and at 6 m from mounds. Rodents removed seeds more rapidly from seed dishes than did ants. Ants removed more...
thumbnail
This study addressed the initial effects of a reintroduction of Gunnison's prairie dogs (Cynomys gunnisoni) on resident small mammal and plant communities on the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR), New Mexico. In spring 1997, 60 prairie dogs (36.8 kg live mass) were introduced onto a former prairie dog colony in a desert grassland site. Small mammals and vegetation were sampled on both a treatment (reintroduction site) and a control site (without prairie dogs) before and after the prairie dogs were reintroduced. We tested for differences in small mammal and plant community change during the 1st year of the colony's existence using repeated measures analysis of variance. Although prairie dog biomass was ca....
We determined temporal and spatial differences in abundance and habitat use by small mammals in southeastern Utah as part of an effort to enhance management of the Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis lucida), listed by the federal government as threatened. Woodrats (Neotoma spp.) were captured only in canyons and most frequently in the pinyon-juniper (Pinus edulis-Juniperus osteosperma) vegetation type. White-footed mice (Peromyscus spp.) were found in a variety of vegetation types in both canyons and mesas. The deer mouse (P. maniculatus) was generally the most frequently captured species among vegetation types. We found seasonal and yearly differences in relative abundance of each small mammal species. Our...
Studies were conducted to assess the behavioral responses of silky pocket mice, Perognathus flavus, to test odors associated with two naturally occurring predators (northern grasshopper mouse, Onychomys leucogaster, and Norway rat, Rattus norvegicus), a novel test odor (sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps), and a control odor (water). Pocket mice were tested in a chamber in which they had access to two cages containing food; one of these cages contained no odor (control), while the other contained a predator odor. When both cages contained no test odors, pocket mice showed no preference for one cage over the other; they spent equivalent amounts of time in and in front of each cage, and in the frequency of feeding bouts...
The ecological relationships of three cricetine species-Peromyscus maniculatus, Peromyscus boylii, and Neotoma stephensi-and their utilization of habitat were revealed by species removals from unfenced plots and vegetation tailoring experiments. When N. stephensi, a woodland and shrubland species of woodrat, was removed from a manzanita-oak shrubland and pinyon-juniper woodland, P. boylii showed few significant changes in its use of the vegetational microhabitats on the grid or in the nature of its arboreal activity. However, when P. boylii, a woodland and shrubland mouse, was removed from a grid in juniper-oak shrubland and juniper grassland, both P. maniculatus, an inhabitant of open habitats such as grassland,...
Desert ecosystems have long served as model systems in the study of ecological concepts (e.g., competition, resource pulses, top-down/bottom-up dynamics). However, the inherent variability of resource availability in deserts, and hence consumer dynamics, can also make them challenging ecosystems to understand. Study of a Chihuahuan desert ecosystem near Portal, Arizona, USA, began in 1977. At this site, 24 experimental plots were established in 1977 and divided among controls and experimental manipulations. Experimental manipulations over the years include removal of all or some rodent species, all or some ants, seed additions, and various alterations of the annual plant community. While some of these manipulations...
    map background search result map search result map Responses of small mammals and vegetation to a reintroduction of Gunnison's prairie dogs Responses of small mammals and vegetation to a reintroduction of Gunnison's prairie dogs