Preliminary Monitoring of the Small Mammal Assemblage within the Dr. Howard Reynolds Natural Area, Hays, KS Soon after the Start of Habitat Restoration Activities

The Dr. Howard Reynolds Natural Area at the Sternberg Museum in Hays (Ellis County), Kansas is a living exhibit of mixed-grass prairie on the outskirts of Hays. Restoration of grassland areas within the natural area started in the mid-2010s, and while this 20-acre project is small in comparison to other grassland restorations, it is still an important contributor toward grassland conservation. Seeding of pollinator plots with native forbs, prescribed burning, eastern redcedar removal, and other projects have been conducted on site to create a native mixed grass prairie area. For just over three years, June 2016 through November 2019, we performed mark-recapture surveys to gain an understanding of the small mammal assemblage in the natural area. This study was the first of such efforts at this location. Our study design consisted of four trap-nights per season with up to three seasons per year (May, September, and November). We surveyed the study site using five transects of 20 Sherman live traps each, placed ∼10 m apart. Hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) and deer mice (Peromyscus spp.) were the two focal taxa of our statistical analyses, as other taxa were not captured at high enough rates to be tested. Populations observed in four trap years (September and November seasons from 2016 through 2019) showed capture numbers of different species did not significantly change between survey years. Our observations indicate a continued need for sampling of this assemblage to support stronger inferences regarding species population changes in an actively restored area.