SMALL MAMMAL COMMUNITIES ASSOCIATED WITH PINE PLANTATION MANAGEMENT OF POCOSINS

To assess how habitat alterations can affect community structure, we c ompared small mammal populations in undisturbed pocosins with those in pocosins managed as pine (Pinus spp.) plantations. We used snap traps and pitfalls to sample small mammals in 3 pine plantations and 2 undi sturbed pocosin habitat types in eastern North Carolina from May 1991 to May 1992. Small mammal community composition differed (P < 0.001) a mong the 5 habitats, largely due to the presence in young and thinned pine stands of pioneering species (least shrew [Cryptotis parva], hous e mouse [Mus musculus], rice rat [Oryzomys palustris], cotton rat [Sig modon hispidus]) that are uncharacteristic of pocosins. We could not d etect (P > 0.05) an effect of plantation management on species associa ted with pocosins (short-tailed shrew [Blarina brevicauda], southeaste rn shrew [Sorex longirostris], cotton mouse [Peromyscus gossypinus], g olden mouse [Ochrotomys nuttalli], white-footed mouse [P, leucopus]), possibly because pocosin-like habitat persisted in managed stands. Alt ernatively, the study design may have lacked statistical power to dete ct negative responses to disturbance evident in capture trends for the se species. We hypothesize that management-related disturbance causes short-term declines or local extinctions of some small mammals, associ ated with pocosins, which later recover or recolonize. To minimize sma ll mammal community changes associated with disturbance, we recommend managing habitat structure in pine plantations to emulate habitat of u ndisturbed pocosins.