THE VIRGINIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
Virginia Journal of Science
| Virginia
Journal of Science.
2004. Vol 55 (4) : 169-176 |
| Response
of Small Mammal Populations to Fescue Hayfield Conversion to Native
Warm Season Grasses in Bath County, Virginia Michael T. Mengak, Warnell School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 USA ABSTRACT
I investigated the effect on small mammal populations of converting an
existing fescue (Festuca arundinacea)
hayfield to switchgrass (Panicium
virgatum) on the George Washington National Forest at Hidden
Valley in Bath County, Virginia. Native warm season grasses are thought
to provide better habitat than fescue pastures for Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and several
species of grassland birds as well as herbivorous small mammals.
I established one live-trapping grid and conducted trapping
(pre-treatment) in both the switchgrass (treatment) and the fescue
(control) field in March and May 1997. The treatment field was
sprayed with glyphosate herbicide (Roundup®) in June 1997, burned
and seeded to switchgrass. Live trapping was conducted at
approximately 60-day intervals during the growing season from March
1997 until October 1999. I caught significantly more individuals
in the treatment field (n=349 individuals of 5 species) than in the
control field (n=59 individuals of 4 species; X2 = 196.7,
d.f. = 1, P< 0.05). The overall capture index was 14.432 and
2.273 animals per 100 trap nights in the treatment and control fields,
respectively. The treatment field had a significantly higher mean
plant biomass weight (  =58.24 g/m |