Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T23:54:30.095Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Small Mammals in Saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima)–Invaded and Native Riparian Habitats of the Western Great Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William S. Longland
William S. Longland*
Affiliation:
Great Basin Rangelands Research Unit, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, 920 Valley Road, Reno, NV 89512
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: longland@unr.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Invasive saltcedar species have replaced native riparian trees on numerous river systems throughout the western United States, raising concerns about how this habitat conversion may affect wildlife. For periods ranging from 2 to 11 yr, I used live-trapping to monitor small mammal populations in paired saltcedar and native riparian woodlands at four sites in western Nevada and eastern California. Heteromyid rodents, such as Merriam's and Ord's kangaroo rats, were more likely to occur in saltcedar habitats, but other rodent species, particularly the montane vole and western harvest mouse, occurred more often in native habitats, and this balanced species richness in habitat comparisons. The most common species at all sites, the deer mouse, did not show any consistent differences in abundance or in mean body mass between the two habitat types. However, the ratio of captured male to female deer mice was higher in saltcedar than native habitats at two sites. Deer mice as well as Ord's kangaroo rats also had higher rates of being recaptured following initial capture in native habitats, which may have been due to fewer transient individuals occurring in these habitats. By contrast, Merriam's kangaroo rats may have been more transient in native habitats because they were more likely to be recaptured in saltcedar. Individuals of two species, pinyon mouse and white-tailed antelope ground squirrel, had greater mean body mass in native habitats than they did in saltcedar, implying that they may have maintained superior condition in native habitats.

Keywords

Saltcedar, Tamarix ramosissima Ledeb.Heteromyidaenativenonnativeriparian woodlandsrodents
Type
Research Article
Information
Invasive Plant Science and Management , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 230 - 237
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Amacher, A. J., Barrett, R. H., Moghaddas, J. J., and Stephens, S. L. 2008. Preliminary effects of fire and mechanical fuel treatments on the abundance of small mammals in mixed-conifer forest of the Sierra Nevada. Forest Ecol. Manag. 255:3193–3202.Google Scholar
Anderson, B. W. and Ohmart, R. D. 1984. A vegetation management study for wildlife enhancement along the lower Colorado River. Boulder City, NV U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region. 529 p.Google Scholar
Anderson, B. W., Higgins, A., and Ohmart, R. D. 1977. Avian use of saltcedar communities in the lower Colorado River Valley. Pages 128–136 in Johnson, R. R., and Jones, D. A., tech. coords. Importance, Preservation, and Management of Riparian Habitat. Fort Collins, CO USDA Forest Service General Technical Report RM-43.Google Scholar
Anderson, B. W., Russell, P. E., and Ohmart, R. D. 2004. Riparian revegetation: an account of two decades of experience in the arid southwest. Blythe, CA Avvar.Google Scholar
Andersen, D. C. 1994. Demographics of small mammals using anthropogenic desert riparian habitat in Arizona. J. Wildlife Manag. 58:445–454.Google Scholar
Andersen, D. C. and Nelson, S. M. 1999. Rodent use of anthropogenic and ‘natural’ desert riparian habitat, lower Colorado River, Arizona. Regul. Rivers Res. Manag. 15:377–393.Google Scholar
DeLay, L., Finch, D. M., Brantley, S., Fagerlund, R., Means, M. D., and Kelly, J. F. 1999. Arthropods of native and exotic vegetation and their association with willow flycatchers and Wilson's warblers. Pages 216–221 in Finch, D. M., Whitney, J. C., Kelly, J. F., and Loftin, S. R., tech. coords. Proceedings of the Rio Grande Ecosystems: Linking Land, Water, and People. Ogden, UT USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station RMRS-P-7.Google Scholar
Durst, S. L., Theimer, T. C., Paxton, E. H., and Sogge, M. K. 2008. Temporal variation in the arthropod community of desert riparian habitats with varying amounts of Tamarix (Tamarix ramosissima). J. Arid Environ. 72:1644–1653.Google Scholar
Ellis, L. M. 1995. Bird use of saltcedar and cottonwood vegetation in the middle Rio Grande valley of New Mexico. J. Arid Environ. 30:339–349.Google Scholar
Ellis, L. M., Crawford, C. S., and Molles, M. C. 1997. Rodent communities in native and exotic riparian vegetation in the middle Rio Grande Valley of central New Mexico. Southwest. Nat. 42:13–19.Google Scholar
Ellis, L. M., Molles, M. C., Crawford, C. S., and Heinzelmann, F. 2000. Surface-active arthropod communities in native and exotic riparian vegetation in the middle Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico. Southwest. Nat. 45:456–471.Google Scholar
Fleishman, E., McDonal, N., MacNally, R., Murphy, D. D., Walters, J., and Floyd, T. 2003. Effects of floristics, physiognomy and non-native vegetation on riparian bird communities in a Mojave Desert watershed. J. Anim. Ecol. 72:484–490.Google Scholar
Genoways, H. H. and Brown, J. H. 1993. Biology of the Heteromyidae. Lawrence, KS American Society of Mammalogists, Special Publication 10.Google Scholar
Hink, V. C. and Ohmart, R. D. 1984. Middle Rio Grande Biological Survey. Final report to the US Army Corps of Engineers No. DACW47-81-C-0015. Tempe, AZ Center for Environmental Studies, Arizona State University.Google Scholar
Hunter, W. C., Ohmart, R. D., and Anderson, B. W. 1988. Use of exotic Tamarix (Tamarix chinensis) by birds in arid riparian systems. Condor 90:113–123.Google Scholar
Jannett, F. J. 1999. Montane vole/Microtus montanus . Pages 635–636 in Wilson, D. E. and Ruff, S., eds. The Smithsonian book of North American mammals. Washington, DC Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Kantak, G. E. 1983. Behavioral seed preference and habitat selection experiments with two sympatric Peromyscus species. Am. Midl. Nat. 109:246–252.Google Scholar
King, J. A. 1968. Biology of Peromyscus. Lawrence, KS American Society of Mammalogists, Special Publication 2.Google Scholar
Knopf, F. L., Johnson, R. R., Rich, T., and Szaro, R. C. 1988. Conservation of riparian ecosystems in the United States. Wilson Bull. 100:272–284.Google Scholar
Long, C. A. 1996. Ecological replacement of the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus, by the white-footed mouse, P. leucopus, in the Great Lakes region. Can. Field Nat. 110:271–277.Google Scholar
Nelson, S. M. and Wydoski, R. 2008. Riparian butterfly (Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea) assemblages associated with Tamarix-dominated, native vegetation-dominated, and Tamarix removal sites along the Arkansas River, Colorado, USA. Restor. Ecol. 16:168–179.Google Scholar
Reichman, O. J. and Brown, J. H. 1983. Biology of desert rodents. Great Basin Nat. Mem. 7:1–134.Google Scholar
Sogge, M. K., Sferra, S. J., and Paxton, E. H. 2008. Tamarix as habitat for birds: implications for riparian restoration in the Southwestern United States. Restor. Ecol. 16:146–154.Google Scholar
Sokal, R. R. and Rohlf, F. J. 1994. Biometry; the principles and practices of statistics in biological research. San Francisco Freeman.Google Scholar
Stamp, N. E. and Ohmart, R. D. 1979. Rodents of desert shrub and riparian woodland habitats in the Sonoran desert. Southwest. Nat. 24:279–289.Google Scholar
Szaro, R. C. 1991. Wildlife communities of southwestern riparian ecosystems. Pages 174–201 in Rodiek, J. E. and Bolen, E. G., eds. Wildlife and Habitats in Managed Landscapes. Washington, DC Island.Google Scholar
van Riper, C., Paxton, K. L., O'Brien, C., Shafroth, P. B., and McGrath, L. J. 2008. Rethinking avian response to Tamarix on the lower Colorado River: a threshold hypothesis. Restor. Ecol. 16:155–167.Google Scholar
Walker, H. A. 2006. Southwestern avian community organization in exotic tamarisk: current patterns and future needs. Pages 274–286 in Aguirre-Bravo, C., Pellicane, P. J., Burns, D. P., and Draggan, S., eds. Proceedings of Monitoring Science and Technology Symposium: Unifying Knowledge for Sustainability in the Western Hemisphere. Fort Collins, CO USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station RMRS-P-42CD.Google Scholar
Webster, W. D. and Jones, J. K. 1982. Reithrodontomys megalotis. Mammalian species 167. Lawrence, KS American Society of Mammalogists.Google Scholar