Small Mammal Communities 

 in Streamside Management Zones 



Dagmar P. Thurmond 1 and Karl V. Miller 2 



Daniel B. Warnell School of Forest Resources 



The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 



ABSTRACT — Populations of small mammals were sampled in six 

 streamside management zones (SMZs) of three widths: narrow 

 (15 m), medium (30 m), and wide (50 m), which extended through 

 a three-year-old pine plantation. We also sampled the pine plantation 

 and a nearby mature riparian forest. Two hundred and twenty- 

 eight small mammals from 12 species were captured in 8,640 

 trapnights. Overall, capture rates were not related to SMZ width. 

 During summer, capture rates were greater in the mature riparian 

 forest than in SMZs. Abundance of individual species varied among 

 the habitats sampled. SMZs supported populations of Oryzomys 

 palustris, Ochrotomys nuttalli, and Neotoma floridana, three species 

 not found in the pine plantation. Inclusion of SMZs in pine 

 plantation management can enhance habitat diversity and contribute 

 to local diversity of the small mammal community. 



Approximately 8.5 million hectares in the southern United 

 States is maintained in pine plantations (United States Department of 

 Agriculture, Forest Service 1988), much of which is managed on short 

 rotations. Although young pine plantations provide seasonal habitat 

 needs for several mammalian species including white-tailed deer 

 (Odocoileus virginianus), eastern cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus), 

 and oldfield mice (Peromyscus polionotus), other later-successional 

 species may be low in abundance or absent. 



Streamside management zones are designed to protect water 

 quality from potential impacts of silvicultural operations. SMZs also 

 add habitat diversity to the surrounding pine plantations. Additionally, 

 SMZs create an area of edge, which increases the number of niches 

 available to wildlife. 



Squirrel (Sciurus spp.) use of SMZs is greater than in adjacent 

 upland pine-hardwood areas in Mississippi (Warren and Hurst 1980) 

 and Alabama (Fischer and Holler 1991), and greater than in adjacent 

 pine plantations in Texas (McElfresh et al. 1980). Studies in eastern 

 Texas indicated that squirrels were more abundant in wide SMZs 

 (>55 m) than in narrow SMZs (<25 m). Conversely, small mammals 

 were more abundant in the narrow SMZs (Dickson and Huntley 1987, 



1 Present address: Shoal Creek Ranger District, Talladega National Forest, Heflin. 



Alabama 36264. 

 : Reprint requests. 



Brimleyana 21:125-130. December 1994 125 



