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IMPLICATIONS OF INVASION BY JUNIPERUS VIRGINIANA ON SMALL MAMMALS IN THE SOUTHERN GREAT PLAINS
Citation:
Horncastle, V. J., E. C. Hellgren, P. M. Mayer*, A. C. Ganguli, D. M. Engle, AND D. M. Leslie, Jr. IMPLICATIONS OF INVASION BY JUNIPERUS VIRGINIANA ON SMALL MAMMALS IN THE SOUTHERN GREAT PLAINS. DOI: 10.1644/05-MAMM, E.J. Heske (ed.), JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY. American Society of Mammalogists, Provo, UT, 86(6):1144-1155, (2005).
Impact/Purpose:
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Description:
Changes in landscape cover in the Great Plains are resulting from the range expansion and invasion of eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana). By altering the landscape and local vegetation, red cedar is changing the structure and function of habitat for small mammals. We examined effects of eastern red cedar invasion on small mammals in tallgrass prairie, old fields, and cross-timbers forest habitats in the south-central United States. Small mammals were sampled seasonally from May 2001 to August 2002 using Sherman live traps and mark-recapture techniques. The structure of the small-mammal community differed among the 3 habitat types, with higher species diversity and richness in the tallgrass prairie and old-field sites. Overall, the small-mammal community shifted along a gradient of increasing eastern red cedar. In the old-field and tallgrass prairie plots, occurrence of grassland species decreased with increasing red cedar, whereas only 1 woodland species increased. In the cross-timbers forest site, percent woody cover (< 1 m in height), rather than cover of red cedar, was the most important factor affecting woodland species. Our data suggest that an increase in overstory cover from 0 to 30% red cedar potentially would change a species-rich prairie community to a depauperate community dominated by 1 species, Peromyscus leucopus. Therefore, as habitat changes from prairie to cedar woodland, the small-mammal community loses species diversity. Changes in mammal distribution parallel those seen in avian communities invaded by eastern red cedar and highlight ecological effects of invasion by eastern red cedar on diversity and function at multiple trophic levels.
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IMPLICATIONS OF INVASION BY JUNIPERUS VIRGINIANA ON SMALL MAMMALS IN THE SOUTHERN GREAT PLAINS