Effects of habitat management on rodent diversity, abundance, and virus infection dynamics

Abstract

Biodiversity is necessary for healthy ecosystem functioning. As anthropogenic factors continue to degrade natural areas, habitat management is needed to restore and maintain biodiversity. However, the impacts of different habitat management regimes on ecosystems have largely focused on vegetation analyses, with limited evaluation of downstream effects on wildlife. We compared the effects of prairie management regimes (controlled burning, cutting/haying, or no active management) on rodent communities and the viruses they hosted. Rodents were trapped in 13 existing prairie sites in Northwest Arkansas, USA during 2020 and 2021. Rodent blood samples were screened for antibodies against three common rodent-borne virus groups: orthohantaviruses, arenaviruses, and orthopoxviruses. We captured 616 rodents across 5953 trap nights. Burned and unmanaged sites had similarly high abundance and diversity (H), but burned sites had a greater proportion of grassland specialists than control sites; cut sites had the highest proportion of grassland specialist species but the lowest rodent abundance and diversity. A total of 38 rodents were seropositive for one of the three virus groups (34 orthohantavirus, three arenavirus, and one orthopoxvirus). Thirty-six seropositive individuals were found in burned sites, and two orthohantavirus-seropositive individuals were found in cut sites. Cotton rats and prairie voles, two grassland specialists, accounted for 97% of the rodents seropositive for orthohantavirus, and heavier individuals were more likely to be seropositive than lighter individuals. Policy implications: Our study indicates that controlled burns lead to a diverse and abundant community of grassland rodent species when compared to other management regimes; as keystone taxa, these results also have important implications for many other species in food webs. Higher prevalence of antibodies against rodent-borne viruses in burned prairies shows an unexpected consequence likely resulting from these community structures. Ultimately, these results provide empirical evidence that can inform prairie grassland restoration and ongoing management strategies.