Ew. Schweiger et al., The interaction of habitat fragmentation plant, and small mammal succession in an old field, ECOL MONOGR, 70(3), 2000, pp. 383-400
We compared the density and spatial distribution of four small mammal speci
es (Microtus ochrogaster, Peromyscus maniculatus, Sigmodon hispidus, and P.
leucopus) along with general measures of an old field plant community acro
ss two successional phases (1984-1986 and 1994-1996) of an experimental stu
dy of fragmentation in eastern Kansas. During the early phase the plant com
munity was characterized by little spatial or temporal variance across patc
h size, consistent with spatially neutral models of succession. In contrast
? there was a strong, species-specific effect of patch size on small mammal
species distribution and abundance. The lack of variance in vegetation str
ucture across patch size during the early seres suggests that small mammal
distributions were responding in large part to features of the system other
than variance in vegetation structure and composition across patch size.
As succession proceeded, the colonization of the system by woody plant spec
ies precipitated a series of patch size effects on plant community composit
ion. Differential habitat selection by small mammals at the patch scale tra
cked these changes in plant distribution. For example, M. ochrogaster and S
. hispidus shifted their distributions away from less fragmented patches to
ward smaller patches, where retarded plant succession had maintained an ear
lier sere. P. leucopus successfully colonized and maintained high densities
only on large patches, where plant succession had progressed most rapidly
toward a woody-species-dominated community.
Our results highlight the role of landscape structure in long-term communit
y dynamics and indicate that some of the complexity observed in successiona
l systems may result from the structure and composition of the landscape mo
saic. In general, our results suggest that to fully understand long-term ch
ange within communities, influence of landscape structure on patterns of he
terogeneity in both vegetation and consumer dynamics must be understood. Mo
reover, the long-term and landscape-scale perspectives afforded by our stud
y provide insight into community dynamics that might otherwise be missed.