Small Mammal Communities of Riparian Areas of the Talladega National Forest

Primary Faculty Mentor’s Name

Dr. Andrew J. Edelman

Proposal Track

Student

Session Format

Poster

Abstract

  • Prescribed burning is used in the Talladega National Forest piedmont to manage for the fire-dependent montane longleaf pine(Pinus palustris) ecosystem. Knowing However not much is known of the effects of regular burning on the composition of small mammal communities. We examined in particular the abundance and diversity of small mammal communities of the riparian areas of three prescribed fire regimes of varying frequency, 2-3 year burn intervals, 3-8 year burn intervals, and 8 years or more burn intervals. We sought to answer the question: how does fire management influence small mammal communities along mountain riparian corridors? We modeled the abundance of white-footed deer mice, our most frequently captured species, of each site using a full likelihood approach in RMArk and calculated diversity using a version of the Simpson Index. As well total biomass of all animals captured at each site was used as a measure of productivity. Individual species and taxa showed variation of abundance and composition among the three plot types. White-footed deer mice seemed to have greater success in the high burn sites, sites with 2-3 burn intervals. The total biomass of all animals of the order Rodentia was greatest in the high burn sites as well. Meso-carnivores appear to prefer the low-burn areas, areas with 8 years or more burn intervals. As fire is known to increase the productivity of the understory, we assumed that these would be the patterns that we would find. However we did expect to find greater species diversity at these sites. Species richness for the high burn sites was 6. Previous studies have shown high burn sites to be much more diverse than was observed. These results suggest that regular burn intervals of 2 to 3 years may be beneficial for small mammal communities. These results may be used to access management techniques in these areas to manage for small mammals.

Keywords

Small Mammals, Longleaf Pine, Fire Management, Community Ecology, Mark Recapture

Location

Concourse and Atrium

Presentation Year

2015

Start Date

11-7-2015 10:10 AM

End Date

11-7-2015 11:20 AM

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

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Nov 7th, 10:10 AM Nov 7th, 11:20 AM

Small Mammal Communities of Riparian Areas of the Talladega National Forest

Concourse and Atrium

  • Prescribed burning is used in the Talladega National Forest piedmont to manage for the fire-dependent montane longleaf pine(Pinus palustris) ecosystem. Knowing However not much is known of the effects of regular burning on the composition of small mammal communities. We examined in particular the abundance and diversity of small mammal communities of the riparian areas of three prescribed fire regimes of varying frequency, 2-3 year burn intervals, 3-8 year burn intervals, and 8 years or more burn intervals. We sought to answer the question: how does fire management influence small mammal communities along mountain riparian corridors? We modeled the abundance of white-footed deer mice, our most frequently captured species, of each site using a full likelihood approach in RMArk and calculated diversity using a version of the Simpson Index. As well total biomass of all animals captured at each site was used as a measure of productivity. Individual species and taxa showed variation of abundance and composition among the three plot types. White-footed deer mice seemed to have greater success in the high burn sites, sites with 2-3 burn intervals. The total biomass of all animals of the order Rodentia was greatest in the high burn sites as well. Meso-carnivores appear to prefer the low-burn areas, areas with 8 years or more burn intervals. As fire is known to increase the productivity of the understory, we assumed that these would be the patterns that we would find. However we did expect to find greater species diversity at these sites. Species richness for the high burn sites was 6. Previous studies have shown high burn sites to be much more diverse than was observed. These results suggest that regular burn intervals of 2 to 3 years may be beneficial for small mammal communities. These results may be used to access management techniques in these areas to manage for small mammals.