Small Mammals in Anthropogenic Brome Fields as Compared to Native Tallgrass Prairie in the Northern Flint Hills of Kansas

Abstract

We studied small mammals in planted smooth brome (Bromus inermis) fields on Konza Prairie to assess the small mammal community associated with these frequently occurring anthropogenic grasslands in eastern Kansas. Also, we wanted to understand the impacts of land use changes resulting from this type of anthropogenic change as compared to native habitats. Relative to this latter interest, we compared the small mammal community in brome fields to that found in native tallgrass prairie, also on Konza Prairie, for the same years and seasons during the early to mid-1980s. Small mammals were trapped in brome (n = 2 study sites) and native tallgrass prairie (n = 14) in autumn (6 years), spring (5) and summer (4) during 1981–1986. Overall, 173 and 1893 individuals of rodents and shrews were captured in brome and native prairie, respectively. Across all seasons, community abundance in brome was greater in autumn than in spring and summer. Patterns of community abundance among seasons in brome were not proportional...