Influence of vegetation type and prescribed fire on Peromyscus abundance in a longleaf pine ecosystem: Postfire Abundance of Peromyscus

Prescribed fire temporarily can alter food and cover resources for ground-dwelling wildlife, potentially leading to changes in animal abundance. Small mammals are an important ecosystem component in many terrestrial communities and depend on ground-level vegetation most commonly affected by prescribed fire. In this complex system of food and cover availability where easier access to food might compromise cover, and vice versa, it is imperative to study postfire habitat use by mice and other ground-dwelling wildlife. We evaluated effects of time since burn and vegetation type on Peromyscus spp. abundance in a longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) ecosystem in Fort Bragg Military Installation, North Carolina, USA, during 2011 and 2012. We trapped in 5 vegetation types and captured 208 individual Peromyscus. Peromyscus abundance did not differ among 1, 2, and 3 years postburn upland pine vegetation types, although we noted a trend of decreasing abundance as time since burn increased; however, abundance was greater in the lowland hardwood vegetation type than in open areas (i.e., military drop zones). The lack of an effect of time since burn could be due to the short fire-return interval at the study site, which limited the time for postburn shifts in the composition of the understory from herbaceous to woody plant species. Therefore, we suggest future research in the longleaf pine ecosystem incorporate a wider time frame to assess short- and long-term effects of fire on small mammal populations. (C) 2017 The Wildlife Society.