Wildfire and the Short-Term Response of Small Mammals Inhabiting a Sagebrush-Bunchgrass Community

Hedlund, J.D.; Rickard, W.H.

doi:10.2307/3534441

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Estimates of density per ha for populations of Great Basin Pocket Mice ranged from peaks of 42-82 in southcentral Washington (Gray 1943;Hedlund and Rogers 1980 dance of ≥ 80 pocket mice per ha in years of above average precipitation and subsequent high plant productivity. Studies seemed to confirm the positive relationship between autumn precipitation and seed resources (O'Farrell et al 1975;Dunigan et al 1980;Hedlund and Rickard 1981). Our populations of Great Basin Pocket Mice reached an average annual high abundance of 45/ha in October 1999 before declining over the next three years.…”

Section: Great Basin Pocket Mousesupporting

confidence: 69%

Dynamics of Peripheral Populations of Great Basin Pocket Mice, Perognathus parvus, and Western Harvest Mice, Reithrodontomys megalotis, in Southern British Columbia

Sullivan

2008

Can Field Nat

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The Great Basin Pocket Mouse (Perognathus parvus) and Western Harvest Mouse (Reithrodontomys megalotis) are two peripheral species occurring in the southern Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Both species are listed as vulnerable to extirpation because of habitat loss, primarily due to conversion of natural habitat to agricultural uses and suburban expansion. Population dynamics of these two species were studied in three habitat types: old field, sagebrush, and pine forest. The Great Basin Pocket Mouse occurred at densities ranging from 12 to 28/ha in sagebrush habitats and at 2-8/ha in old fields and Ponderosa Pine forest. The Western Harvest Mouse occurred at variable densities up to 10/ha in old fields and up to 5/ha in sagebrush habitats. Mean number of lactating females for Great Basin Pocket Mice ranged from 4-8 in sagebrush, 1-5 in old fields and pine forests combined. Mean juvenile survival to adulthood ranged from 3.28 young Great Basin Pocket Mice per pregnant female in sagebrush, 4.67 in old field, and 1.82 in pine forest habitats. Mean juvenile survival to adulthood of Western Harvest Mice ranged from 1.46-1.72 young per female in old field and sagebrush habitats. Conservation of habitat features (high biomass and structural diversity of grasses and forbs) in linear habitats has the potential to maintain populations of Western Harvest Mice. The Great Basin Pocket Mouse needs features of sagebrush and old field habitats that need to be conserved as natural non-linear components in mosaics of natural and anthropogenic habitats. Both species could act as “indicators” of habitat integrity for a wide range of other vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant species in the Okanagan Valley.

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Section: Great Basin Pocket Mousesupporting

confidence: 69%

Dynamics of Peripheral Populations of Great Basin Pocket Mice, Perognathus parvus, and Western Harvest Mice, Reithrodontomys megalotis, in Southern British Columbia

Sullivan

2008

Can Field Nat

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“…Plain, but rarely captured on the trapping grids, were the Townsend's ground squirrel Spermophilus townsendii, which can be locally abundant, and the sagebrush vole Lagurus curtatus, which is present in very low numbers (O'Farrell, 1972). Townsend's ground squirrels are active from March to June (Hedlund & Rickard, 1981). These were not active above ground during the main portion of our trapping period, but other studies have shown them to be the most abundant small mammal in terms of biomass in big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass Agropyron spicatum habitats on the slopes above the Columbia River Plain (Rogers et al, 1988).…”

Section: Mammalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alien taxa in the North American shrub-steppe four decades after cessation of livestock grazing and cultivation agriculture

Brandt

Rickard

1994

Biological Conservation

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Because of its use as a nuclear materials production area, the 800-kin 2 sagebrush steppe of the Columbia River Plain in Washington State has functioned as a quasinatural area protected from livestock grazing and agricultural development since 1944. Alien vegetation and animals have invaded the eastern Washington region in the past century and are currently represented in the Columbia River Plain. Investigations were undertaken to evaluate the distribution of alien species, particularly vegetation, and their relationships to other flora and fauna in this region.Recently disturbed areas were dominated by the alien annuals Russian thistle Salsola kali, tumble mustard Sisymbrium altissimum, prickly lettuce Lactuca serriola, and bur ragweed Ambrosia acanthicarpa. Oldfield habitats were composed almost entirely of the alien annual cheatgrass Bromus tectorum. Alien vegetation also comprised a portion of the flora in habitats that had not been disturbed or grazed by cattle in the past. Cheatgrass and spring whitlow-grass Draba verna were able to set seed in undisturbed habitats, whereas Russian thistle and tumble mustard seldom did. These two species continue as components of undisturbed habitat primarily through seed dispersal from disturbed sites.Old-fieM habitats support a depauperate fauna compared to undisturbed sagebrush steppe vegetation. Shrubnesting birds such as the sage sparrow Amphispiza belli were absent from old fields, and even ground-nesting species were found in abnormally low densities. Old fields supported relatively few mammal species, in part as a result of poor food supplies. Alien birds, the rock dove Columba livia and the European starling Sturnus vulgaris, visited undisturbed habitat, but did not nest there.No alien mammals were found in undisturbed sagebrush steppe vegetation; the only alien mammals found in the area, the house mouse Mus musculus and Norway rat Rattus norvegicus, being limited to riparian areas and the vicinity of buildings.Alien taxa are likely to remain a component of any quasi-natural area in the sagebrush steppe ecoregion.Conservation 0006-3207/94/$07.00 © 1994 Elsevier Science Limited, England. Printed in Great Britain Human disturbance need not be spatially extensive to maintain alien plants within undisturbed communities. Successional patterns after land disturbance produce conditions unfavorable for native fauna, but have not enhanced the distribution of alien fauna.

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“…Populations of Townsend's ground squirrels, dormant below ground at the time of stand-replacing fire in a sagebrush-grass community in southeastern Washington, seemed unaffected by the fire (Hedlund and Rickard 1981). Research after a stand-replacing fire in chaparral found that the only burrowing rodents, Heerman and agile kangaroo rats, were also the only rodents to survive in substantial numbers, probably because their burrows protected them from heat (Quinn 1979).…”

Section: Mammalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Burrows with multiple entrances may be better ventilated than those with just one entrance (Geluso and others 1986). Small mammals living in burrows survived stand-replacing fire during summer in an ungrazed sagebrush-bunchgrass community in southeastern Washington (Hedlund and Rickard 1981). Most voles survived a prescribed burn in Nebraska grassland (Geluso and others 1986).…”

Section: Mammalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on fauna

Smith¹

2000

122

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_____________________________________Fires affect animals mainly through effects on their habitat. Fires often cause short-term increases in wildlife foods that contribute to increases in populations of some animals. These increases are moderated by the animals' ability to thrive in the altered, often simplified, structure of the postfire environment. The extent of fire effects on animal communities generally depends on the extent of change in habitat structure and species composition caused by fire. Stand-replacement fires usually cause greater changes in the faunal communities of forests than in those of grasslands. Within forests, standreplacement fires usually alter the animal community more dramatically than understory fires. Animal species are adapted to survive the pattern of fire frequency, season, size, severity, and uniformity that characterized their habitat in presettlement times. When fire frequency increases or decreases substantially or fire severity changes from presettlement patterns, habitat for many animal species declines.

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Wildfire and the Short-Term Response of Small Mammals Inhabiting a Sagebrush-Bunchgrass Community

Cited by 11 publications

References 6 publications

Dynamics of Peripheral Populations of Great Basin Pocket Mice, <em>Perognathus parvus</em>, and Western Harvest Mice, <em>Reithrodontomys megalotis</em>, in Southern British Columbia

Dynamics of Peripheral Populations of Great Basin Pocket Mice, <em>Perognathus parvus</em>, and Western Harvest Mice, <em>Reithrodontomys megalotis</em>, in Southern British Columbia

Alien taxa in the North American shrub-steppe four decades after cessation of livestock grazing and cultivation agriculture

Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on fauna

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