Short-term responses of small mammals to experimental fire in tallgrass prairie

Abstract

Short-term responses of small mammals to experimental fire were examined in a 13-ha site on the Konza Prairie Research Natural Area, Kansas. A 6.1-ha portion was burned in spring 1987, whereas the 6.9-ha control site was left unburned in 1987, as was the entire 13 ha in spring 1986. In the absence of fire, < 1% of all small mammals (n = 130) caught in both March and April 1986 completely shifted from one area to the opposite area. No differences occurred in appearance of new individuals between the two areas in April 1986. In April 1987, all Reithrodontomys megalotis (n = 14) and Microtus ochrogaster (n = 6) caught in the burned area before fire and recaught after fire moved to the unburned area, but no individual from either species moved the opposite way. Most Synaptomys cooperi (75%, n = 4) moved away from the burned area, but no animals were available to test for movements into the burned area. Most new individuals for fire-negative species were captured in the unburned area after fire: 93% of R. megalotis (n = 46), 96% of Blarina hylophaga (n = 27), 100% of M. ochrogaster (n = 4), and 100% of S. cooperi (n = 1). In contrast, Peromyscus maniculatus exhibited a fire-positive response, with one of four moving from unburned to burned and none of five moving the opposite way, and most new individuals recorded after fire were in the burned area (88%, n = 24).