Realm: Terrestrial
Climate: Temperate
Biome: Deserts and xeric shrublands
Central latitude: 32.550335
Central longitude: -106.811564
Duration: 13 years, from 1995 to 2007

12787 records

19 distinct species

Across the time series Dipodomys ordii is the most frequently occurring species

Methods

Each rodent trapping web consists of a series of 12 equally spaced lines radiating from a central point. Each line consists of 12 trap stations. The first trap station is located 5 meters from the center. the next three at 5 meter intervals. and the remaining 8 at ten meter intervals. Each trap line is 100 meters long. and each web is 200 meters in diameter. The above rodent trapping web design has been used for six years at the Sevilleta LTER. and has recently been adopted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. as a standard technique for monitoring rodent populations. Small Mammals ------------- Rodent populations will be sampled from each of the three webs at each of the study sites twice each year. in the early (April-May) and late (September-October) summer. Sherman (H. B. Sherman Traps. Inc.. Tallahassee. FL) live-traps are left open for three consecutive nights. and captured animals are recorded for three consecutive mornings. Each animal caught is identified. measured. and released at the same location where it was captured. Each animal is temporarily marked with a marking pen to determine recapture status for a given three-night sampling period. No permanent marking techniques are used. Rodent trapping is conducted at all 6 webs at a given research site over the same 3 night period. Rodent trapping at the Sevilleta. Jornada. and Mapimi will be conducted at the same time of year. Persons working with rodents in the field will follow safety guidelines developed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Mills. et al. in press). to reduce exposure to hantavirus. plague. and other rodent-vectored diseases. traps Unit of abundance = IndCountInt, Unit of biomass = Weight

Citation(s)

Lightfoot, D. & Schooley, R. L. “SMES rodent trapping data, Small Mammal Exclosure Study”. Jornada LTER. Available at: http://jornada.nmsu.edu/sites/jornada.nmsu.edu/files/data_files/JornadaStudy_086_smes_rodent_trapping_data_0.csv, accessed 2016.