Luring Small Mammals: A Levels-of-Organization Perspective

Abstract

We compared prebaiting versus non-prebaiting of small mammal live traps during autumn (i.e., when food resources were abundant) and during spring (i.e., when food resources were scarce). Trapping was conducted within 10 experi- mental grids (0.21-ha each) located in upland and bottomland (5 each) habitats. Four species of small mammals were captured 10 or more times during this study: Pero- myscus leucopus (White-footed Mouse; 543 captures), Glaucomys volans (Southern Flying Squirrel; 94 captures), Tamias striatus (Eastern Chipmunk; 53 captures), and Ochrotomys nuttalli (Golden Mouse; 12 captures). The White-footed Mouse, because of its abundance during both seasons, was the primary species of analysis. White-footed Mice had a signifi cantly higher probability of capture (1.29 times (or 29 percent)) in the prebaiting treatment than in the non-prebaited treatment. Prebait- ing did not have a signifi cantly different effect on males compared to females or on juveniles versus adult White-footed Mice. The practice of prebaiting, or luring small mammals, is discussed across levels of organization .