Fluorescent paint powders have frequently been used to determine the spatial activity patterns and microhabitat use of small mammals. The time of day that powdered animals were released differs among studies and data used in many studies were collected on the trails of powdered animals released in the morning outside the normal period of activity of many species of small mammals. We tested for differences in the characteristics of fluorescent powder trails of white-footed mice Peromyscus leucopus (Rafmesque, 1818) released using three protocols: night capture-night release, morning capture-morning release, and morning capture-delayed night-release. The night release and morning release protocols were established to replicate the extremes found in the literature. We added the third protocol to evaluate how capturing mice in the morning, holding them in captivity, and releasing them at night affected their use of microhabitat. There were no significant differences in the use of microhabitat between the night release and delayed night-release treatments. However, a significantly greater proportion of the trails of mice released in the morning were in areas of thick cover and under logs than the trails of mice released at night. Because mice released during the day used microhabitat differently than mice released at night, we caution against the interpretation of data on use of habitat collected using the fluorescent powder trails of animals released outside their normal period of activity.
Arrays of pitfalls and drift fences were deployed in five deciduous forest habitats in southcentral Pennsylvania to assess the characteristics, and temporal and spatial dynamics of forest small-mammal communities, and to determine the impact of precipitation, sampling method, and length of sampling period on perceived small-mammal abundance and community structure. Results revealed that soricid assemblages were more diverse and generally more abundant than rodent assemblages, which were dominated by the white-footed mouse Peromyscus leucopus. Precipitation dramatically increased the capture rates of shrews; the response was less pronounced in rodents. Individual species responded independently to precipitation. The response was more pronounced in three species of arvicoline rodents (Clethrionomys gapperi, Microtus pinetorum, and M. pennsylvanicus) than in P. leucopus, a sigmodontine. Comparisons of sampling with pitfalls and Museum Special snap-traps, with and without drift fencing, revealed that arrays of pitfalls with drift fences produced significantly higher capture rates for all small mammals, shrews, rodents, and P. leucopus, greater numbers of species, and higher Shannon indices than other sampling methods, Comparison of the results of sampling for 3, 5, 7, and 10 days revealed that extending sampling to 7 or more days yielded significantly more species, higher Shannon indices, and greater numbers of individuals than sampling for less than 7 days.
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