HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Calisher, C. H. Articles by Beaty, B. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Calisher, C. H. Articles by Beaty, B. J.

¹ Arthropod-borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Foothills Campus, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA
² Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, M/S G-14, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA
⁵ Corresponding author (email: calisher{at}cybercell.net)

We followed seasonal and year-to-year population dynamics for a diverse rodent assemblage in a short-grass prairie ecosystem in southeastern Colorado (USA) for 6 yr. We captured 2,798 individual rodents (range, one to 812 individuals per species) belonging to 19 species. The two most common species, deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) and western harvest mice (Reithrodontomys megalotis), generally had population peaks in winter and nadirs in summer; several other murid species demonstrated autumn peaks and spring nadirs; heteromyids were infrequently captured in winter, and populations generally peaked in summer or autumn. Inter-annual trends indicated an interactive effect between temperature and precipitation. Conditions associated with low rodent populations or population declines were high precipitation during cold periods (autumn and winter) and low precipitation during warm periods (spring and summer). Severity of adverse effects varied by species. Heteromyids, for example, were apparently not negatively affected by the hot, dry spring and summer of 2000. Cross-correlations for the temporal series of relative population abundances between species pairs (which are affected by both seasonal and interannual population dynamics) revealed positive associations among most murids and among most heteromyids, but there were negative associations between murids and heteromyids. These results have important implications for those attempting to model population dynamics of rodent populations for purposes of predicting disease risk.

  Key words:  Abiotic environment, Colorado, grass-shrub habitat, population dynamics, rainfall, rodents, temperature.

³ Current address: William P. Sweeney, Comcast IP Services, 3 Executive Campus, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 08002, USA

⁴ Current address: National Wildlife Research Center, US Department of Agriculture, 4101 LaPorte Ave., Fort Collins, Colorado 80521, USA

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. J. Kuenzi, M. L. Morrison, N. K. Madhav, and J. N. Mills BRUSH MOUSE (PEROMYSCUS BOYLII) POPULATION DYNAMICS AND HANTAVIRUS INFECTION DURING A WARM, DROUGHT PERIOD IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA J. Wildl. Dis., October 1, 2007; 43(4): 675 - 683. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. H. Calisher, J. J. Root, J. N. Mills, J. E. Rowe, S. A. Reeder, E. S. Jentes, K. Wagoner, and B. J. Beaty EPIZOOTIOLOGY OF SIN NOMBRE AND EL MORO CANYON HANTAVIRUSES, SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO, 1995-2000 J. Wildl. Dis., January 1, 2005; 41(1): 1 - 11. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]