Bottom-up regulation of desert grassland and shrubland rodent communities: Implications of species-specific reproductive potentials

Journal of Mammalogy

Volumn 93, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 1017-1028

  Lightfoot, David C ^a   Davidson, Ana D ^a,b   Parker, Dara G ^d   Hernndez, Lucina ^c   Laundr, John W ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO   (United States)

^b INSTITUTO DE ECOLOGÍA   (Mexico)

^c NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^d STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT OSWEGO   (United States)

Author keywords

abundance; community composition; Dipodomys; El Ni o La Ni a Southern Oscillation; kangaroo rats; plant production; population dynamics; rainfall

Indexed keywords

ABUNDANCE; BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTION; BIOMASS; BOTTOM-UP APPROACH; COMMUNITY COMPOSITION; COMPARATIVE STUDY; EL NINO-SOUTHERN OSCILLATION; GRASS; GRASSLAND; LA NINA; POPULATION DENSITY; POPULATION DYNAMICS; RODENT; SHRUB; SHRUBLAND; TROPHIC STRUCTURE;

CHIHUAHUAN DESERT;

DIPODOMYS; DIPODOMYS MERRIAMI; DIPODOMYS ORDII; NIA; POACEAE; RODENTIA;

EID: 84866611721     PISSN: 00222372     EISSN: 15451542     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1644/11-MAMM-A-391.1     Document Type: Article

References (70)

1. ANDERSON, D. R., K. P. BURNHAM, G. C. WHITE, AND D. L. OTIS. 1983. Density estimation of small-mammal populations using a trapping web and distance sampling methods. Ecology 64: 674-680. (Pubitemid 15270987)
2. BEATLEY, J. C. 1969. Dependence of desert rodents on winter annuals and precipitation. Ecology 50: 721-724.
3. BROWN, J. H., AND S. K. M. ERNEST. 2002. Rain and rodents: complex dynamics of desert consumers. BioScience 52: 979-987. (Pubitemid 35307240)
4. BROWN, J. H., AND B. A. HARNEY. 1993. Population and community ecology of heteromyid rodents in temperate habitats. Pp. 618-651 in Biology of the Heteromyidae (H. H. Genoways and J. H. Brown, eds.). Special Publication 10, The American Society of Mammalogists.
5. BROWN, J. H., AND E. J. HESKE. 1990a. Control of a desert-grassland transition by a keystone rodent guild. Science 250: 1705-1707. (Pubitemid 120031876)
6. BROWN, J. H., AND E. J. HESKE. 1990b. Temporal changes in a Chihuahuan Desert rodent community. Oikos 59: 290-320.
7. BROWN, J. H., AND Z. ZENG. 1989. Comparative population ecology of eleven species of rodents in the Chihuahuan Desert. Ecology 70: 1507-1525. (Pubitemid 20422275)
8. BUCKLAND, S. T., D. R. ANDERSON, K. P. BURNHAM, AND J. L. LAAKE. 1993. Distance sampling: estimating abundance of biological populations. Chapman and Hall, London, United Kingdom.
9. COLLINS, S. L. 2000. Disturbance frequency and community stability in native tallgrass prairie. American Naturalist 155: 311-325. (Pubitemid 30218221)
10. CONLEY, W., J. D. NICHOLS, AND A. R. TIPTON. 1977. Reproductive strategies in desert rodents. Pp. 193-215 in Transactions of the symposium on the biological resources of the Chihuahuan Desert region, United States and Mexico. Sul Ross State University, Alpine, TX. 1974 (R. H. Wauer and D. H. Riskind, eds.). United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service Transactions and Proceedings Series 3: 1-658.
11. DAVIDSON, A. D., AND D. C. LIGHTFOOT. 2006. Keystone rodent interactions: prairie dogs and kangaroo rats structure the biotic composition of a desertified grassland. Ecography 29: 755-765. (Pubitemid 44630201)
12. DAVIDSON, A. D., ET AL. 2010. Rapid response of a grassland ecosystem to an experimental manipulation of a keystone rodent and domestic livestock. Ecology 91: 3189-3200.
13. DAVIDSON, D. W., D. A. SAMSON, AND R. S. INOUYE. 1985. Granivory in the Chihuahuan Desert: interactions within and between trophic levels. Ecology 66: 486-502.
14. DICKMAN, C. R., A. C. GREENVILLE, C. L. BEH, B. TAMAYO, AND G. M. WARDLE. 2010. Social organization and movements of desert rodents during population "booms" and "busts" in central Australia. Journal of Mammalogy 91: 798-810.
15. DICKMAN, C. R., P. S. MAHON, P. MASTERS, AND D. F. GIBSON. 1999. Long-term dynamics of rodent populations in arid Australia: the influence of rainfall. Wildlife Research 26: 389-403. (Pubitemid 29337515)
16. ERNEST, S. K. M., AND J. H. BROWN. 2001. Homeostasis and compensation: the role of species and resources in ecosystem stability. Ecology 82: 2118-2132. (Pubitemid 32773856)
17. ERNEST, S. K. M., J. H. BROWN, AND R. R. PARMENTER. 2000. Rodents, plants, and precipitation: spatial and temporal dynamics of consumers and resources. Oikos 88: 470-482. (Pubitemid 30152700)
18. ERNEST, S. K. M., J. H. BROWN, K. M. THIBAULT, E. P. WHITE, AND J. R. GOHEEN. 2008. Zero sum, the niche, and metacommunities: longterm dynamics of community assembly. American Naturalist 172: E257-E269.
19. EVANERI, M., I. NOY-MEIR, AND D. W. GOODALL. 1985. Hot deserts and arid shrublands. Elsevier, New York. Vol. 12A.
20. FINDLEY, J. S., A. H. HARRIS, D. E. WILSON, AND C. JONES. 1975. Mammals of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
21. FOX, B. J., AND J. H. BROWN. 1993. Assembly rules for functional groups of North American desert rodent communities. Oikos 67: 358-370.
22. GOODALL, D. W., P. A. PERRY, AND K. M. W. HOWES. 1981. Arid-land ecosystems: structure, functioning and management. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
23. HAVSTAD, K. M., L. F. HUENNEKE, AND W. H. SCHLESINGER. 2006. Structure and function of a Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem: the Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research Site. Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom.
24. HERNÁNDEZ, L., A. G. ROMERO, J. W. LAUNDŔE, D. LIGHTFOOT, E. ARAG ́ON, AND J. LÓPEZ-PORTILLO. 2005. Changes in rodent community structure in the Chihuahuan Desert Mexico: comparisons between two different habitats. Journal of Arid Environments 60: 239-257.
25. HERNÁNDEZ, L., J. W. LAUNDŔE, A. GONZÁLEZ-ROMERO, J. LÓPEZPORTILLO. AND K. M. GRAJALES. 2011. Tale of two metrics: density and biomass in a desert rodent community. Journal of Mammalogy 92: 840-851.
26. HUENNEKE, L. F., D. CLASON, AND E. MULDAVIN. 2001. Spatial heterogeneity in Chihuahuan Desert vegetation: implications for sampling methods in semi-arid ecosystems. Journal of Arid Environments 47: 257-270. (Pubitemid 32631972)
27. KELT, D. A. 2011. Comparative ecology of desert small mammals: a selective review of the past 30 years. Journal of Mammalogy 92: 1158-1178.
28. KELT, D. A., ET AL. 1996. Community structure of desert small mammals: comparisons across four continents. Ecology 77: 746-761. (Pubitemid 126494905)
29. KELT, D. A., J. A. WILSON, E. S. KONNO, J. D. BRASWELL, AND D. DEUTSCHMAN. 2008. Differential responses of two species of kangaroo rat (Dipodomys) to heavy rains: a humbling reappraisal. Journal of Mammalogy 89: 252-254. (Pubitemid 351304070)
30. KERLEY, G. I. H., W. G. WHITFORD, AND F. R. KAY. 1997. Mechanisms for the keystone status of kangaroo rats: graminivory rather than granivory? Oecologia 111: 422-428. (Pubitemid 27347594)
31. KOTLER, B. P. 1984. Risk of predation and the structure of desert rodent communities. Ecology 65: 689-701. (Pubitemid 15276145)
32. KOTLER, B. P., J. S. BROWN, R. J. SMITH, AND W. O. WIRTZ. 1988. The effects of morphology and body size on rates of owl predation on desert rodents. Oikos 53: 145-152. (Pubitemid 19323025)
33. KREBS, C. J. 1989. Ecological methodology. Harper & Row, New York.
34. LE HOUEROU, H. N. 1984. Rain use efficiency: a unifying concept in arid-land ecology. Journal of Arid Environments 7: 213-247. (Pubitemid 16264544)
35. LETNIC, M., P. STORY, G. STORY, J. FIELD, O. BROWN, AND C. R. DICKMAN. 2011. Resource pulses, switching trophic control, and the dynamics of small mammal assemblages in arid Australia. Journal of Mammalogy 92: 1210-1222.
36. LIGHTFOOT, D. C., S. L. BRANTLEY, AND C. D. ALLEN. 2008. Geographic patterns of ground-dwelling arthropods across an ecoregional transition in the North American Southwest. Western North American Naturalist 68: 83-102. (Pubitemid 351548444)
37. LIGHTFOOT, D. C., A. D. DAVIDSON, C. M. MCGLONE, AND D. G. PARKER. 2010. Rabbit abundance relative to rainfall and plant production in northern Chihuahuan Desert grassland and shrubland. Western North American Naturalist 70: 490-499.
38. LIMA, M., S. K. M. ERNEST, J. H. BROWN, A. BELGRANO, AND N. C. STENSETH. 2008. Chihuahuan Desert kangaroo rats: nonlinear effects of population dynamics, competition, and rainfall. Ecology 89: 2594-2603.
39. LONGLAND, W. S., AND M. V. PRICE. 1991. Direct observations of owls and heteromyid rodents: can predation risk explain microhabitat usE Ecology 72: 2261-2273.
40. MESERVE, P. L., D. A. KELT, W. B. MILSTEAD, AND J. R. GUTI ́ERREZ. 2003. Thirteen years of shifting top-down and bottom-up control. BioScience 53: 633-646. (Pubitemid 36872924)
41. MILSTEAD, W. B., P. L. MESERVE, A. CAMPANELLA, M. A. PREVITALI, D. A. KELT, AND J. R. GUTIERREZ. 2007. Spatial ecology of small mammals in north-central Chile: role of precipitation and refuges. Journal of Mammalogy 88: 1532-1538.
42. MULDAVIN, E. H., D. I. MOORE, S. L. COLLINS, K. R. WETHERILL, AND D. C. LIGHTFOOT. 2008. Aboveground net primary production dynamics in a northern Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. Oecologia 155: 123-132. (Pubitemid 351169964)
43. NOY-MEIR, I. 1985. Desert ecosystem structure and function. Pp. 93-103 in Ecosystems of the world. Vol. 12A. Hot deserts and arid shrublands (M. Evaneri, I. Noy-Meir, and D. W. Goodall, eds.). Elsevier, New York.
44. PERRIN, M. R., AND B. P. KOTLER. 2005. A test of five mechanisms of species coexistence between rodents in a southern African savanna. African Zoology 40: 55-61. (Pubitemid 40664954)
45. PREVITALI, M. A., M. LIMA, P. L. MESERVE, D. A. KELT, AND J. R. GUTI ́ERREZ. 2009. Population dynamics of two sympatric rodents in a variable environment: rainfall, resource availability, and predation. Ecology 90: 1996-2006.
46. PRICE, M. V. 1983. Laboratory studies on seed size and species selection by heteromyid rodents. Oecologia 60: 259-263. (Pubitemid 15276143)
47. PRICE, M. V., AND J. W. JOYNER. 1997. What resources are available to desert granivores: seed rain or soil seed bank? Ecology 78: 764-773.
48. PRICE, M. V., N. M. WASER, AND T. A. BASS. 1984. Effects of moonlight on microhabitat use by desert rodents. Journal of Mammalogy 65: 353-356.
49. REICHMAN, O. J. 1975. Relation of desert rodent diets to available resources. Journal of Mammalogy 56: 731-751.
50. REICHMAN, O. J. 1991. Relation of desert rodent diets to available resources. Pp. 311-347 in The ecology of desert communities (G. A. Polis, ed.). University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
51. REICHMAN, O. J., AND M. V. PRICE. 1993. Ecological aspects of heteromyid foraging. Pp. 539-574 in Biology of the Heteromyidae (H. H. Genoways and J. H. Brown, eds.). Special Publication 10, The American Society of Mammalogists.
52. REICHMAN, O. J., AND K. M. VAN DE GRAFF. 1975. Association between ingestion of green vegetation and desert rodent reproduction. Journal of Mammalogy 56: 503-506.
53. REYNOLDS, J. F., P. R. KEMP, K. OGLE, AND R. J. FERNÁNDEZ. 2004. Modifying the pulse reserve paradigm for deserts of North America: precipitation pulses, soil water, and plant responses. Oecologia 141: 211-220.
54. ROSENZWEIG, M. L., AND Z. ABRAMSKY. 1985. Detecting densitydependent habitat selection. American Naturalist 126: 405-417.
55. SAS INSTITUTE INC. 2005. SAS system for Microsoft Windows. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina.
56. SCHLESINGER, W. H., ET AL. 1990. Biological feedbacks in global desertification. Science 247: 1043-1048.
57. SCHRODER, G. D. 1987. Mechanisms for coexistence among three species of Dipodomys: habitat selection and an alternative. Ecology 68: 1071-1083.
58. SCHRODER, G. D., AND M. L. ROSENZWEIG. 1975. Perturbaton analysis of competition and overlap in habitat utilization between Dipodomys ordii and Dipodomys merriami. Oecologia 19: 9-28.
59. SCHWINNING, S., O. E. SALA, M. E. LOIK, AND J. R. EHLERINGER. 2004. Thresholds, memory, and seasonality: understanding pulse dynamics in arid/semi-arid ecosystems. Oecologia 141: 191-193. (Pubitemid 39379401)
60. SHENBROT, G., B. KRASNOV, AND S. BURDELOV. 2010. Long-term study of population dynamics and habitat selection of rodents in the Negev Desert. Journal of Mammalogy 91: 776-786.
61. SIKES, R. S., W. L. GANNON, AND THE ANIMAL CARE AND USE COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAMMALOGISTS. 2011. Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the use of wild mammals in research. Journal of Mammalogy 92: 235-253.
62. SLADE, N. A., M. A. EIFLER, N. M. GRUENHAGEN, AND A. L. DAVELOS. 1993. Differential effectiveness of standard and long Sherman livetraps in capturing small mammals. Journal of Mammalogy 74: 156-161.
63. STAPP, P. 2010. Long-term studies of small mammal communities in arid and semiarid environments. Journal of Mammalogy 91: 773-775.
64. THIBAULT, K. M., AND J. H. BROWN. 2008. Impact of an extreme climatic event on community assembly. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105: 3410-3415. (Pubitemid 351723566)
65. THIBAULT, K. M., S. K. M. ERNEST, E. P. WHITE, J. H. BROWN, AND J. R. GOHEEN. 2010. Long-term insights into the influence of precipitation on community dynamics in desert rodents. Journal of Mammalogy 91: 787-797.
66. VALONE, T. J., AND J. H. BROWN. 1995. Effects of competition, colonization, and extinction on rodent species diversity. Science 267: 880-883.
67. WHITFORD, W. G. 1976. Temporal fluctuation in density and diversity of desert rodent populations. Journal of Mammalogy 57: 351-369.
68. WHITFORD, W. G. 2002. Ecology of desert systems. Academic Press, San Diego, California.
69. WHITFORD, W. G., AND Y. STEINBERGER. 1989. The long-term effects of habitat modification on a desert rodent community. Pp. 33-43 in Patterns in the structure of mammalian communities (D. W. Morris, Z. Abramsky, B. J. Fox, and M. R. Willig, eds.). Texas Tech University Press, Lubbock.
70. YUNGER, J. A., P. L. MESERVE, AND J. R. GUTÍERREZ. 2007. Effects of biotic interactions on spatial behavior of small mammals in a semiarid community in north-central Chile. Pp. 141-164 in The quintessential naturalist: honoring the life and legacy of Oliver P. Pearson (D. A. Kelt, E. P. Lessa, J. Salazar-Bravo, and J. L. Patton, eds.). University of California Publications in Zoology 134: 1-981.