Progress 03/01/99 to 03/01/04
Outputs
Ongoing long-term studies on Konza Prairie continue to refine our understanding of how primary production, precipitation, fire, large mammalian grazers (bison, cattle), and topographic features impact small mammal populations. Assessment of positive responses to conditions created by fires and grazers by some species (e.g., the deer mouse) and negative responses by other species (e.g., the prairie vole and western harvest mouse) documents how prescribed burning and grazing can be used to manipulate distribution and abundance of small mammals. In turn, abundance and distribution of small mammals influence both their predators (hawks, owls, and mammalian carnivores) and prey (seeds and insects). For example, abundance of wintering hawks is related to abundance of rodents, such as prairie voles and hispid cotton rats. Further, patterns of predation on experimental seeds by small mammals demonstrate that both prairie fires and topographic features influence seed use and
survival. For example, rodents ate more seeds in burned than unburned prairie and in lowland than upland prairie. Finally, long-term suppression of fire, in contrast to short-term absence of fire, leads to the invasion of prairie by woody vegetation. Community composition for small mammals in an experimental prairie site that has experienced only one fire in the last 25 years has shifted dramatically as woody vegetation invades and the prairie site degrades to shrubby grassland. The shift results from a decrease in prairie rodents (e.g., deer mouse) and an increase in woodland ones (e.g., white-footed mouse). Collectively, our ongoing studies demonstrate that fires and grazers can be used to not only manipulate abundance and distribution of small grassland mammals, but also predators that feed on small mammals and seeds that are eaten by small mammals.
Impacts
Fires and grazers can be managed to manipulate (both positively and negatively) small mammals (and other wildlife) and, by extension, their predators. Use of prescribed burning and grazing not only can be used to maintain natural biodiversity, but also can be used to control species that act as (1) pests in anthropogenic systems and (2) vectors for diseases/parasites when ecological systems are altered by changes in land use and climate.
Publications
- Reed, A. W., G. A. Kaufman, D. A Rintoul, and D. W. Kaufman. 2004. Influence of prey abundance on raptors in tallgrass prairie. The Prairie Naturalist, 36:23-31.
- O'Neal, P. R. and D. W. Kaufman. 2004. Eastern moles on the Konza Prairie Biological Station. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, 107:93-96.
- Kaufman, D. W. and G. A. Kaufman. 2004. Sternberg Museum's mammal collections: helping understand Kansas biodiversity. The Pteranodon, Highlights from the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Number 29:4-5.
- Rehmeier, R. L., G. A. Kaufman, and D. W. Kaufman. 2004. Long-distance movements of the deer mouse in tallgrass prairie. Journal of Mammalogy, 85:562-568.
- Kaufman, G. A., D. W. Kaufman, and S. C. Kocher. 2004. Distribution of carnivore burrows in a prairie landscape. Great Plains Research, in press.
- Reed, A. W., G. A. Kaufman, and D. W. Kaufman. 2004. Influence of fire, topography, and consumer abundance on seed predation in tallgrass prairie. Canadian Journal of Zoology, in press.
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Progress 01/01/03 to 12/31/03
Outputs
Temporal variation of small mammals in tallgrass prairie in eastern Kansas is related to temporal patterns of precipitation (PPT) and net primary production (NPP) for many but not all species, whereas spatial variation is influenced by spatial distribution of fires, grazers, and topographic features. For example, autumn abundance of prairie voles, little influenced by spring fire over the last 23 years, is related to intrinsic population factors coupled with the magnitude of PPT/NPP. That is, vole abundance is constrained such that high abundance is not attained in autumns with low levels of growing-season PPT/NPP, but is reached in some years with high PPT/NPP. However, abundance may remain low when PPT/NPP is high, because of other limiting factors. In contrast, abundance of hispid cotton rats, although highly variable over the 23 years, is not related to growing-season PPT/NPP. For this herbivorous rodent, however, autumn abundance is higher in first and second
autumns after spring fire (7-8 and 19-20 months after fire) than subsequent autumns. Because natural fires occur at various times during the year and because our primary research had been based on spring fire, experimental study of a seasonality-of-annual-fire effect on small mammals was initiated in 1993. Results show a seasonality-of-fire effect on spring deer mice; an effect that likely is related to the time that prairie lacks cover (litter and standing dead vegetation) following experimental fire 11, 8, 4, and 1-2 months earlier (April, July, November, and February fires). Four years ago, a continuing study was initiated to assess responses of small mammals to (1) reclamation of shrub-invaded tallgrass prairie using prescribed fire and, as a control, (2) woody invasion of prairie using experimental exclusion of fire. Results from our ongoing studies indicate that management of small, prairie mammals in natural and anthropogenic ecosystems of the Great Plains requires an
understanding of individual and interactive effects of weather, fire, and grazers plus mowing relative to the topographic template of a specific conservation site.
Impacts
Fires and grazers can be managed to manipulate (both positively and negatively) small mammals (and other wildlife) and, by extension, their predators. Use of prescribed burning and grazing not only can be used to maintain natural biodiversity, but also can be used to control species that act as (1) pests in anthropogenic systems and (2) vectors for diseases/parasites when ecological systems are altered by changes in land use and climate.
Publications
- Kaufman, G. A. and D. W. Kaufman. 2002. Woodchuck recorded in Saline and Russell counties, Kansas. The Prairie Naturalist, 34:145-147.
- Goheen, J. R., G. A. Kaufman, and D. W. Kaufman. 2002. Patterns of reproduction for harvest mice in north-central Kansas. The Prairie Naturalist, 34:107-113.
- Goheen, J. R., G. A. Kaufman, and D. W. Kaufman. 2003. Effect of body size on reproductive characteristics of the northern grasshopper mouse in north-central Kansas. The Southwestern Naturalist, 48:427-431.
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Progress 01/01/02 to 12/31/02
Outputs
Field studies in tallgrass prairie and mixed-grass prairie regions in eastern and central Kansas, respectively, continue to demonstrate considerable temporal and spatial variation in abundance of rodents and shrews. This variation in abundance is related to patterns of weather, fire, grazers, and land use. Year-to-year variation in abundance of small, prairie mammals over the last 22 years is related positively to precipitation and/or productivity in some species (e.g., short-tailed shrews; precipitation - prairie voles - plant production). However, prairie fires and large mammalian grazers can alter the effects of weather and productivity. Spring prairie fires have a major influence on abundance of small mammals, which for some species is positive (e.g., deer mice) and for others is negative (prairie voles, western harvest mice). To better understand fire effects, we are in our ninth year of an experimental analysis designed to assess whether fires in summer, autumn,
and winter have the same effect that spring fires have on small mammals. Responses vary with season of fire which likely is dependent on the time that the soil surface is exposed before spring regrowth. Partly due to between-year variability in abundance, however, season-of-fire effects are difficult to assess, and this long-term project will be continued. Because the natural fire cycle was suppressed and this led to an ever increasing invasion of woody vegetation, we initiated, three years ago, a long-term study designed to assess recovery of prairie mammals when controlled fires are used to reclaim shrub invaded grassland and, as a control, to measure changes in mammals associated with woody invasion due to experimental exclusion of fire from tallgrass prairie. Combined, our results indicate that conservation efforts focused on small, prairie mammals in natural and anthropogenic ecosystems of the Great Plains require an understanding of individual and combined effects of climate,
grazers, fire, mowing, and other natural and anthropogenic impacts.
Impacts
Fires and large grazers (and mowing as a surrogate) by manipulating periodicity and intensity can be used to manage rodents, shrews, and other wildlife in native and restored grasslands. Application of prescribed burning and grazing should be useful in maintaining natural biodiversity and to control wildlife that act as pests and serve as vectors for human diseases and parasites in light of changing land-use patterns and expected climate change in Kansas.
Publications
- Goheen, J. R., G. A. Kaufman, and D. W. Kaufman. 2002. Effect of body size on reproductive characteristics of the northern grasshopper mouse in north-central Kansas. The Southwestern Naturalist, in press.
- Matlack, R. S., D. W. Kaufman, and R. E. Charlton. 2001. First record of the cinereus shrew for Riley County, Kansas. The Prairie Naturalist, 33: 107-108.
- Beckmann, J. P., G. A. Kaufman, and D. W. Kaufman. 2001. Influence of habitat on distribution and abundance of the eastern woodrat in Kansas. Great Plains Research, 11: 249-260.
- Reed, A. W., G. A. Kaufman, J. E. Boyer, Jr., and D. W. Kaufman. 2001. Seed use by vertebrates and invertebrates in the tallgrass prairie. The Prairie Naturalist, 33: 153-161.
- Matlack, R.S., D.W. Kaufman, G.A. Kaufman, and B.R. McMillan. 2002. Longterm variation in abundance of Elliot's short tailed shrew (Blarina hylophaga) in tallgrass prairie. Journal of Mammalogy, 83:280-289. Beckmann, J. P., G. A. Kaufman, and D. W. Kaufman. 2002. Distribution of eastern woodrats in a grassland-woodland mosaic: influence of vegetation and fire. Great Plains Research, 12: 157-166.
- Kaufman, G. A. and D. W. Kaufman. 2002. Woodchuck recorded in Saline and Russell counties, Kansas. The Prairie Naturalist, in press.
- Goheen, J. R., G. A. Kaufman, and D. W. Kaufman. 2002. Patterns of reproduction for harvest mice in north-central Kansas. The Prairie Naturalist, in press.
- Matlack, R. S., R. L. Rehmeier, B. R. McMillan, D. W. Kaufman, and G. A. Kaufman. 2002. Disturbance of small mammal live traps by crows: problems and solutions. The Southwestern Naturalist, in press.
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Progress 01/01/01 to 12/31/01
Outputs
Long-term study of small mammals in tallgrass prairie (Konza Prairie Biological Station) in eastern Kansas has indicated that annual abundance of rodents and shrews is influenced by weather, primary productivity and litter accumulation, and processes such as grazing and burning. For example, Elliot's short-tailed shrew is influenced positively by precipitation and litter depth, but negatively by fire and large mammalian grazers. The short-tailed shrew, because it is affected negatively by increasing aridity, should function as an indicator species for environmental shifts associated with climate change. Additional field work on Konza demonstrated that both burning and grazing impact small mammals and that these effects likely differ between fires in different seasons and between bison and cattle. Haying also has a strong impact on small mammals based on sampling in sites hayed annually over a multiple-year period in mixed-grass prairie in central Kansas. These
observations do not mean that burning, grazing, and haying are bad, but rather that public and private native and restored grasslands managed as conservation areas for mammals and other vertebrates should neither be burned, grazed, and hayed completely nor unburned, ungrazed or unburned completely at any one time. Rather, management practices for native wildlife should take advantage of prescribed burning, grazing, and mowing plus the absence of these to create spatially diverse and temporally dynamic grassland landscapes. Finally, increased amounts of wooded habitats (an anthropogenic change whether dominated by native or invasive trees and shrubs) have influenced both woodland and grassland mammals in the central United States. For example, increases in wooded habitats, whether native, planted, and invasive, from the Flint Hills to western Kansas have led to increases in the distribution and abundance of both white-footed mice and eastern woodrats.
Impacts
Weather and range and agricultural practices and interactions of these have considerable potential for influencing wild mammals and, therefore, conservation efforts as well as pest and human-health issues in Kansas. Climate change and land-use practices have the potential for influencing diversity in both private and public lands, pests in rural and urban areas, and mammalian vectors and hosts of human diseases and parasites
Publications
- Matlack, R. S., D. W. Kaufman, and G. A. Kaufman. 2001. Influences of grazing by bison and cattle on deer mice in burned tallgrass prairie. The American Midland Naturalist, 146:361-368.
- Beckmann, J. P., G. A. Kaufman, and D. W. Kaufman. 2001. Influence of habitat on distribution and abundance of the eastern woodrat in Kansas. Great Plains Research, 12: in press.
- Matlack, R. S., D. W. Kaufman, and R. E. Charlton. 2001. First record of the cinereus shrew for Riley County, Kansas. The Prairie Naturalist, 33: in press.
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Progress 01/01/00 to 12/30/00
Outputs
Ongoing long-term research at the Konza Prairie Biological Station continues to support the idea that spatial and temporal variation in abundance of small mammals is driven by weather, fire, and grazers. To broaden our understanding of fire effects, however, we initiated a fire-reversal project during the past year. This project focuses on long-term changes in small mammals in ungrazed tallgrass prairie when experimental regimes are switched from long-term unburned to annually burned and from long-term annually burned to unburned. When the switch occurs in spring 2001, we will have the opportunity to observe the dynamics of changes in small mammals associated both with litter accumulation and woody invasion in sites switched to unburned and with removal of litter and eventual removal of woody vegetation in sites switched to annually burned. In addition to long-term studies of response of small mammals to bison grazing, we have completed an analysis of small mammals in
bison-grazed, cattle-grazed, and ungrazed tallgrass prairie. We sampled small mammals during spring before fire, spring after fire, and autumn in four sites grazed by bison, four grazed by cattle, and four left ungrazed during 1996-1997. The deer mouse, the most abundant species in all treatments and periods, responded positively to grazing, but other mammals were too uncommon for a valid test of grazing impacts. Abundance of deer mice was greater in grazed than ungrazed sites in autumn and again in spring before fire, but similar in grazed and ungrazed sites after spring fire. Deer mice also were more abundant in bison-grazed than cattle-grazed sites in autumn, and tended to be so in spring before fire. Greater use by deer mice of grazed than ungrazed prairie sites in autumn and spring before fire likely was related to reduced vegetative structure and plant litter in grazed sites. Differences in use of bison-grazed and cattle-grazed prairie probably resulted from differences in the
pattern of patchiness of vegetation and litter created by differences in grazing behavior between bison and cattle. In a related effort, we are continuing a multi-year study of small mammals in hayed and unhayed mixed-grass prairie in central Kansas that was initiated in 1998. Our results suggest that the deer mouse is the only small mammal that frequently occurs in mowed site; a pattern that is consistent with the positive effect of fire and grazers. Mowing also has a negative effect on several species of small mammals that are negatively impacted by prairie fires.
Impacts
Weather, land-use practices, and the interactions of these impact wild mammals and influence conservation, pest, and human health issues. Such management issues include diversity of native animals in natural and anthropogenic habitats, pests in agricultural and urban settings, and mammals that are vectors and hosts of human diseases and parasites (hantavirus and Lyme disease).
Publications
- Kaufman, D. M., G. A. Kaufman, and D. W. Kaufman. 2000. Faunal structure of small mammals in tallgrass prairie. pp. 47-70. In Reflections of a Naturalist: Papers Honoring Professor E. D. Fleharty (J. R. Choate, ed.), Fort Hays Studies, Special Issue 1, Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS.
- Kaufman, G. A. and D. W. Kaufman. 2000. Temporal and spatial variability in a small mammal community. pp. 147-163. In Reflections of a Naturalist: Papers Honoring Professor E. D. Fleharty (J. R. Choate, ed.), Fort Hays Studies, Special Issue 1, Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS.
- Kaufman, D. W., G. A. Kaufman, and B. K. Clark. 2000. Small mammals in native and anthropogenic habitats in the Lake Wilson area of north-central Kansas. The Southwestern Naturalist, 45:45-60.
- McMillan, B. R., M. R. Cottam, and D. W. Kaufman. 2000. Wallowing behavior of American bison (Bos bison) in tallgrass prairie: an examination of alternate explanations. The American Midland Naturalist, 144:159-167.
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Progress 01/01/99 to 12/31/99
Outputs
Conservation and management practices focused on mammals in natural and anthropogenic ecosystems require an understanding of the effects of climate, grazing, fire, and other environmental features. Our ongoing research on small mammals (12 rodents, 2 shrews) on Konza Prairie demonstrates considerable year-to-year differences in abundance of individual species in tallgrass prairie which for some but not all species is related to climate (the carnivorous Elliot's short-tailed shrew) or primary production (the herbivorous prairie vole). In addition to climate, fire influences the abundance and distribution of prairie mammals and, therefore, can be used as a conservation tool. However, the effects of fire season on small mammals were unknown and, therefore, we initiated an experimental study using prairie burned annually in spring, summer, fall, or winter. Responses of small mammals to fire differed with season of fire; and a detailed assessment of season effect is in
progress using field data collected during the past six years. We also will continue this study for another six years to better assess which environmental differences cause the fire-season differences for individual species of mammals. General observations indicate that grazing impacts mammals by altering vegetation and litter conditions (negative response: western harvest mouse, short-tailed shrew, prairie vole; positive response: deer mouse). To complement an ongoing long-term analysis of bison grazing, we recently completed a two-year experimental study in annually burned prairie in which small mammals were sampled in bison grazed, cattle grazed, and ungrazed sites. Use of prairie sites by small mammals shifted dramatically between grazed and ungrazed prairie. Our results also suggested that small mammals responded differently to conditions created by cattle and by bison; this requires further assessment, but is consistent with behavioral differences between cattle and bison.
Infrequent fires in tallgrass prairie lead to the invasion of woody vegetation in eastern Kansas. As this occurs, the mammalian community shifts to greater domination by woodland species (for example, white-footed mice and eastern woodrats) at the expense of grassland species. To examine the dynamics of the response of mammals to woody invasion, we initiated a long-term experimental study on Konza Prairie during this past year. During this planned 10-year study, small mammals will be surveyed annually in both unburned and annually burned prairie sites. However, the important experimental component is that unburned prairie study sites (unburned for the last 20 years except for one wild fire over five years ago) will be burned annually beginning in spring 2001, whereas annually burned sites will be switched to unburned and then left unburned for the next 20 years. This shift will allow a simultaneous comparison of changes in small mammals as woody vegetation decreases in one case and as
the woody invasion occurs in the other.
Impacts
Responses to climate and land-use practices provide insights into conservation, pest, and health issues related to wild mammals. Pertinent management issues include biodiversity in natural and anthropogenic habitats, pests in agricultural and urban settings, and mammals that are vectors and hosts of human diseases and parasites (hantavirus and Lyme disease).
Publications
- McMillan, B. R., D. W. Kaufman, and G. A. Kaufman. 1999. Rare species of small mammals in northeastern Kansas tallgrass prairie. pp. 120-126. In Proceedings of the Sixteenth North American Prairie Conference: The Central Nebraska Loess Hill Prairie (J. T. Springer, ed.), University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney.
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