The effects of remnant and restored prairies on small mammals and tick diversity
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Restorations of prairie habitat usually occur on abandoned land formerly cropped or followed, bringing opportunities and threats for wildlife species. Small mammals play critical ecological roles in many ecosystems, including serving as hosts for tick vectors in prairies. Restoration provides landscape-scale benefits by increasing the area of grasslands that serve as refuges for small mammals in unfavorable periods. The resulting mosaic of restored and appropriately managed grasslands can lead to the persistence of small mammal communities in these dynamic landscapes. I sought to determine the impact of prairie restorations on the small mammal and tick community by comparing a prairie restoration with a remnant prairie in Callaway County, Missouri. The objectives of this study are (1) to examine how prairie type (remnant and restored) affects small mammal and tick diversity and (2) to examine how time since restoration impacts both species abundance and tick diversity. This research is essential to understand how management actions to restore tallgrass prairies can affect the small mammal community and how that influences ticks that are disease vectors in Central Missouri.
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M.S.