Small mammals are key consumers in the marsh food web and could serve as indicators of a marsh's potential to support higher-level predators. We studied how small-mammal occupancy varied among plant communities in coastal Louisiana freshwater marshes. We sampled small mammals at 36 sites on 4 different occasions during the late spring in freshwater marshes of the Mandalay National Wildlife Refuge, LA. Mammalian diversity was low; we captured only Oryzomys palustris (Marsh Rice Rats). Occupancy modeling revealed a positive association between Marsh Rice Rat site occupancy and Sagittaria lancifolia (Bulltongue Arrowhead) biomass. Our data suggest that subtle changes in plant-species composition within a marsh may affect the distribution of the most common small mammal in the ecosystem.
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1 January 2014
Small-Mammal Occupancy in Freshwater Marshes of Mandalay National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana
Eric J. Tobin,
Jenneke M. Visser,
James K. Peterson,
Paul L. Leberg
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Southeastern Naturalist
Vol. 13 • No. 3
September 2014
Vol. 13 • No. 3
September 2014