Species Richness within Small Mammal Communities of Forested Sites around Itasca State Park and Nearby Prairie Sites

Abstract

For three consecutive days, twelve Sherman trap grids (864 trap nights) were used to assess species richness in small mammals in forest and prairie habitats in and around Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota. I hypothesized that the increased woody biomass in the forest habitats would correlate to higher species richness. Results, however, indicated that the opposite was true – the prairie habitats had greater small mammal species richness than the forest habitats. These results suggest that something other than total plant biomass dictates the number of species that can coexist in an area. This study serves a first step in investigating the species community makeup of varying habitats over a broad area in northern Minnesota.