- state threatened species due to its rareness and small geographic range

1. The effects of grazing on Texas Kangaroo Rats in Wichita County, Texas Allan D. Nelson, Jim R. Goetze, Elizabeth Watson, & Mark NelsonDepartment of Biological Sciences, Box T-0100, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76401

2. -state threatened species due to its rareness and small geographic range -IUCN (1986) lists habitat loss and degradation resulting from agricultural and infrastructure development as major threats

4. -habitat fragmented by extensive cultivation that occurred in the Rolling Plains region of Texas (Correll and Johnston 1970) -changes in vegetation patterns at sites in Wichita County may also pose a threat

5. -only land unsuitable for cultivation were left in their natural state and these were fenced by ranchers and stocked with cattle but, because of the decline of ranching, some are no longer grazed or, worse have been invaded by introduced species such as Japanese brome -lack of fire has allowed the increase of honey mesquite and lotebush in Wichita County and in some cases, rats use loose soils surrounding these woody species as burrow

6. -as mesquites mature, vegetation composition changes, sometimes favoring introduced grasses like Japanese brome, which grows densely and changes the habitat so that it is less suitable for D. elator

7. -Davis and Schmidley (1994) stated that Texas kangaroo rat burrows invariably entered the ground at the base of a mesquite and the primary threat contributing to the rarity of the species was the clearing of mesquite brush -mesquite forest was not seen as a problem by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

8. -Wichita County on a privately owned ranch that is moderately grazed pasture (0.3 head/ha) and mesquite density at the site is 168/ha (less than 1.0m tall) -this site was compared to a nearby relatively large population of Texas kangaroo rat where grazing is relatively intense (0.8 head/ha) and it has about 54 small mesquite/ha -major soil association at both the study sites are the same and categorized as a clay loam called Kamay soils

9. -7.5 x 8.8 x 30 cm Sherman traps with rolled oats as bait -based on parameters set by Stangl et al. (1992) regarding burrow entrance diameter, angle of entry, and vegetation, we selected suspected burrows at the sites and placed three traps around each burrow entrance

10. -vegetation data quantified in May for burrows where Texas kangaroo rats were caught -one square meter quadrats centered around burrow entrances in a north-south orientation -percentage cover, grass, forb, bare ground, and woody vegetation recorded -vegetative richness and height were measured and the dominant grass, forb, and woody species identified

11. -data compared using SPSS 14.0 (www.spss.com) -Mann Whitney test was used to test for significant differences in richness and percentages of grasses, forbs, bare ground, and woody vegetation between the two grazed sites -data from a previous study (Stasey 2005) at an ungrazed site was included in a Kruskal –Wallis analysis to test for significant differences between the grazed and ungrazed sites

12. Moderately grazed (0.3 head/ha) burrows: Burrow # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Forbs Broomweed X XXXXX Pepperweed X Grass Little Barley X XXXX Buffalo X Rescue X Woody Vegetation Mesquite X XXXX None X X Burrow Associations Fence X X Mesquite X XXXX

13. Heavily grazed (0.8 head/ha) burrows: Burrow # 1 2, 3 4 5, 8, 10 6 7 9 Forbs Broomweed X Hog potato X X Pepperweed X X Ragweed X Unknown X Grass Little Barley X XXXXXX Woody Vegetation Lotebush X Mesquite X None X XXXX Burrow Association Fence X Lotebush X Mesquite X Old brush pile X XX Prairie mound X

14. Means, standard deviations (in parentheses), and ranges [in brackets] and P-value using Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney test. Heavily Grazed Moderately Grazed P-value Avg. Herb. Height 7.1 (±7.9) [2.0-40.0] 24.5 (±12.7) [9.0-29.4] 0.0001* % Bare Ground 49.9 (±24.0) [0.0-80.0] 20.7 (±18.1) [5.0-60.0] 0.024* % Forbs 16.5 (±13.1) [1.0-35.0] 33.7 (±22.6) [15.0-67.0] 0.133 % Grasses 24.60 (±18.9) [1.0-55.0] 20.1 (±15.6) [1.0-45.0] 0.623 % Woody 6.0 (±15.8) [0.0-50.0] 26.1 (±26.5) [0.0-60.0] 0.037* % Other 2.0 (±4.2) [0.0-2.0] 0.0 (±0.0) [0.0-0.0] 0.222 Richness 6.2 (±2.4) [3.0-10.0] 7.6 (±1.8) [6.0-10.0] 0.137

15. -dominant plant species included little barley, common broomweed, hog potato, Virginia pepperweed, and western ragweed, which occur in disturbed habitats, and common broomweed is often an indicator of heavy grazing (Diggs et al. 1999) -their dominance is likely caused by grazing of cattle and rodent activity around the burrows

16. -habitat dominated by short, herbaceous vegetation (2.0 - 40.0 cm in height) -general agreement that D. elator requires a sparse, short-grassland habitat (Carter et al. 1985; Dalquest & Collier 1964; Roberts & Packard 1973; Stangl et al. 1992), and our findings support this conclusion -data also indicates that grazing may be important in maintaining this type of habitat

17. Stasey (2005) -trapped in a mesquite forest with an ungrazed understory dominated by Japanese brome within 4.0 km of our heavily grazed site -caught only two kangaroo rats on the periphery of the mesquite forest habitat with one from friable clay soil mounded around gate corner posts and the other along a fence-line berm separating the pasture from a wheat field -surveyed seven quadrats for vegetational differences in the core of the ungrazed pastureland and found percent bare ground with a mean of 10.9%, grasses 63.7%, and forbs 16.1%, whereas the mean average herbaceous height was 49.0 cm -average herbaceous height (P=0.001), percentage bare ground (P=0.009), and grasses (P=0.009) were significantly different when comparing the grazed sites to the ungrazedsite

18. Comparison of our two grazed sites with an ungrazed site (Stasey 2005) -grazing can change percent bare ground and grass as well as herbaceous height, which appear to be important to Texas kangaroo rat habitat -this habitat relationship is complicated by the dominance of the introduced grass, Bromusjaponicus at the ungrazed site and additional studies need to be conducted at ungrazed sites containing native vegetation -based on the lack of D. elator at the ungrazed site and its relative abundance at the grazed sites, it appears that grazing plays a role in maintaining suitable habitat for Texas kangaroo rats

19. Lack of grazing significantly increased -vegetation height at the ungrazed site, which on average was double the moderately grazed site and seven times greater than the heavily grazed site -percentage of grasses, which was about three times greater on average at the ungrazed site when compared to grazed sites -percentage bare ground, which on average was about one-half that of the moderately grazed site and about one-fourth that of the heavily grazed site This tall, dense coverage by grasses may impede: movement of rats ability to see potential predators (3) burrow construction (4) their dust bathing activities

20. -grazing bison (Stangl et al. 1992), prolonged droughts, and natural prairie heterogeneity such as prairie mounds (Goetze et al. 2007), and perhaps fire maintained the type of disturbances needed by the Texas kangaroo rat before cattle grazing and other human-mediated disturbances -in areas where cattle no longer graze or at sites where native vegetation is overcome by invasive species, it appears that populations of Texas kangaroo rats have declined.

21. Of the 17 burrows examined in this study 47% are associated with human-mediated disturbances such as old brush piles and fence rows.

22. 53% of 17 burrows are associated with more natural sites such as shrubs and prairie mounds.

23. At the heavily grazed site, lotebush and honey mesquite burrow associations were equal in number, supporting our hypotheses that mesquite is not a requirement. The type of shrub is probably not as important as is the accumulation of loose friable soil at the base of the shrubs.

24. Because moderate to heavy grazing and unburned brush piles appear to be important to Texas kangaroo rats, private landowners could be offered incentives to implement these management practices if Texas kangaroo rats are found on their property. Protected natural area (PNA) managers might instigate grazing and brush clearing projects to increase availability of Texas kangaroo rat habitat. It seems short-sighted to manage Texas PNAs as undisturbed medium to tall grass ecosystems, when natural prairie ecosystems were undoubtedly disturbed by grazing, fire, and drought. It is important that these research and management suggestions be considered to protect this unique Texas mammal.

25. Thanks to: Tarleton State University for partial funding of this research and the Goetze family for access to their property as well as room and board during field work.