Life Sciences Commons^™

Determinants Of Small Rodent Distribution And Abundance In A Shrub-Steppe Ecosystem: Influences Of Seeds, Ants And Shrubs, Linda Suzanne Broome

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study had two major objectives; firstly to test the hypothesis of ongoing competition for seeds between small rodents and harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex occidental is, in a cold desert ecosystem; secondly to elucidate how seed abundance and shrub cover influence the distribution and abundance of deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus. The study area was a sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) dominated shrubsteppe in southwestern Wyoming. Responses of the small mammal community to ant removal and food addition were assessed on replicated study plots between September 1981 and September 1983. Food addition and shrub removal manipulations were continued from September 1983 …