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Animal Sciences

Old Dominion University

Journal

Small mammals

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Compositional Changes In Two Small Mammal Communities During Succession In Southeastern Virginia, Robert K. Rose, Robyn M. Nadolny, Jay Kiser, Stephen E. Rice, Heather Green Salamone, Jana Eggleston, Holly D. Gaff Jan 2018

Compositional Changes In Two Small Mammal Communities During Succession In Southeastern Virginia, Robert K. Rose, Robyn M. Nadolny, Jay Kiser, Stephen E. Rice, Heather Green Salamone, Jana Eggleston, Holly D. Gaff

Virginia Journal of Science

Changes in the composition of two small mammal communities were studied during 8 and 9 years of ecological succession in southern Chesapeake. Virginia. Using monthly live-trapping on grids of similar size and history since their abandonment as agricultural fields, we learned that house mice were early colonists on one grid but not the other. Two species of herbivorous rodent and the granivorous eastern harvest mouse were numerically dominant on both grids across the study. Some species disappeared early on one grid but persisted to the end at the other. The two arboreal small mammals, golden and white-footed mice, were most …


Amphibian And Small Mammal Assemblages In A Northern Virginia Forest Before And After Defoliation By Gypsy Moths (Lymantria Dispar), Joseph C. Mitchell Jan 2015

Amphibian And Small Mammal Assemblages In A Northern Virginia Forest Before And After Defoliation By Gypsy Moths (Lymantria Dispar), Joseph C. Mitchell

Virginia Journal of Science

The introduced European gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) caused substantial defoliation and mortality of oak trees along the North Fork of Quantico Creek in Prince William Forest Park, Prince William County, Virginia, U.S.A., in 1989 and the early 1990s. Results of a drift fence/pitfall study conducted in 1988 were compared to those obtained from the same technique in the same areas in 1993 to elucidate whether the amphibian and small mammal assemblages had changed over time. Number of Lithobates sylvaticus increased significantly in 1993, but the numbers of Lithobates clamitans and Plethodon cinereus were significantly higher in 1988. Total …


The Population Dynamics Of Two Rodents In Two Coastal Marshes In Virginia, Robert K. Rose, John A. March Jan 2013

The Population Dynamics Of Two Rodents In Two Coastal Marshes In Virginia, Robert K. Rose, John A. March

Virginia Journal of Science

The communities of small mammals were evaluated for 13 months with capture-mark-recapture methods in two Spartina-Juncus marshes of the Atlantic coast in Northampton County, Virginia. Small mammals were trapped for three days each month using live traps placed on floats on two study grids. Two rodents were numerically dominant (~90% of small mammals) there: marsh rice rat, Oryzomys palustris, and meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus. Monthly estimates of population density were greater for rice rats (peak: 45/ha) than for those of meadow voles (peak: 30/ha). Survival rates were generally low, especially for rice rats, indicating highly vagile populations. Both …


Low-Density Rodent Communities In Eastern Virginia, Robert K. Rose, Jean F. Stankavich Jan 2008

Low-Density Rodent Communities In Eastern Virginia, Robert K. Rose, Jean F. Stankavich

Virginia Journal of Science

Two communities of small mammals were live trapped every other week for 15 months in linear oilfield habitat bordered by forested swampland in eastern Virginia. All nine species of the rodent community were present, mostly in low numbers and often intermittently. All species were characterized by high transiency, with a minority of marked animals becoming resident. Despite high trappability, all but two species in these communities had extremely low densities, suggesting that most species could not sustain populations via in situ reproduction.


Depauperate Small Mammal Communities In Managed Pine Plantations In Eastern Virginia, James D. Dolan, Robert K. Rose Oct 2007

Depauperate Small Mammal Communities In Managed Pine Plantations In Eastern Virginia, James D. Dolan, Robert K. Rose

Virginia Journal of Science

Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations of four different ages were examined to identify changes in the small mammal community in relation to changes in the vegetational community. Small mammals were evaluated during five seasons using two methods of trapping. Live traps accounted for 65% of captures and seven of nine species, whereas pitfall traps yielded eight species, of which two were not taken with live traps. For both trap types, catch rates averaged less than two per 100 trap-nights, very low even for pine forests. Both abundance and biomass of small mammals declined with increasing stand age, whereas species …


Response Of Small Mammal Populations To Fescue Hayfield Conversion To Native Warm Season Grasses In Bath County, Virginia, Michael T. Mengak Jan 2004

Response Of Small Mammal Populations To Fescue Hayfield Conversion To Native Warm Season Grasses In Bath County, Virginia, Michael T. Mengak

Virginia Journal of Science

I investigated the effect on small mammal populations of converting an existing fescue (Festuca arundinacea) hayfield to switchgrass (Panicium virgatum) on the George Washington National Forest at Hidden Valley in Bath County, Virginia. Native warm season grasses are thought to provide better habitat than fescue pastures for Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and several species of grassland birds as well as herbivorous small mammals. I established one live-trapping grid and conducted trapping (pre-treatment) in both the switchgrass (treatment) and the fescue (control) field in March and May 1997. The treatment field was sprayed with glyphosate …


Small Mammal Communities In Riparian And Upland Habitats On The Upper Coastal Plain Of Virginia, A. Scott Bellows, Joseph C. Mitchell Oct 2000

Small Mammal Communities In Riparian And Upland Habitats On The Upper Coastal Plain Of Virginia, A. Scott Bellows, Joseph C. Mitchell

Virginia Journal of Science

We compared small mammal communities between riparian (stream corridor) and nearby upland habitats in a hardwood forest ecosystem on Fort A.P. Hill, Caroline County, Virginia. We used a combination of small-scale drift fence/pitfall trap arrays and snap traps to capture small mammals during April – October 1998, with an additional winter sample in January 1999. We captured seven small mammal species at 14 sites (7 pairs). Numbers of species were not significantly different between habitat types. Bray-Curtis polar ordinations showed that plant and small mammal community compositions were similar in upland sites and that these communities were most varied in …