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Rabbit Abundance Relative to Rainfall and Plant Production in Northern Chihuahuan Desert Grassland and Shrubland Habitats

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Rabbit Abundance Relative to Rainfall and Plant Production in Northern Chihuahuan Desert Grassland and Shrubland Habitats Western North American Naturalist Volume 70 Number 4 Article 9 12-20-2010 Rabbit abundance relative to rainfall and plant production in northern Chihuahuan Desert grassland and shrubland habitats David C. Lightfoot University of New Mexico, [email protected] Ana D. Davidson Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México Christopher M. McGlone Ecological Restoration Institute, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, [email protected] Dara G. Parker New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wnan Recommended Citation Lightfoot, David C.; Davidson, Ana D.; McGlone, Christopher M.; and Parker, Dara G. (2010) "Rabbit abundance relative to rainfall and plant production in northern Chihuahuan Desert grassland and shrubland habitats," Western North American Naturalist: Vol. 70 : No. 4 , Article 9. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wnan/vol70/iss4/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Western North American Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Western North American Naturalist 70(4), © 2010, pp. 490–499 RABBIT ABUNDANCE RELATIVE TO RAINFALL AND PLANT PRODUCTION IN NORTHERN CHIHUAHUAN DESERT GRASSLAND AND SHRUBLAND HABITATS David C. Lightfoot1, Ana D. Davidson2, Christopher M. McGlone3, and Dara G. Parker4 ABSTRACT.—Rabbit abundance patterns in the North American Southwest are poorly known, particularly relative to the potentially important influences of rainfall and plant production. We conducted a 10-year study on the comparative densities of black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) and desert cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus audubonii) in relation to annual rainfall and plant production in both black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda) grassland and creosotebush (Larrea tri- dentata) shrubland habitats in the northern Chihuahuan Desert. We found that both species of rabbits were more abun- dant in black grama grassland than in creosotebush shrubland and that plant production was positively correlated with rainfall at both habitats. However, rabbit densities were not positively correlated with rainfall or plant production in either habitat. In fact, both species of rabbits exhibited gradual, multiyear changes in abundance rather than the pat- terns of high annual variation observed in desert rodent communities. Our findings of no significant relationship between plant production and rabbit densities indicate that rabbit abundance in the northern Chihuahuan Desert may not be strongly regulated by short-term, bottom-up effects of annual variation in plant production. Long-term trends indicate that other factors such as disease or predation may be equally or more important. We suggest that future research evaluate both top-down and bottom-up influences to elucidate the temporal dynamics of Chihuahuan Desert rabbit abundance. Key words: aboveground net primary production, desert grassland, desert shrubland, ENSO events, hares, habitats, Lagomorpha, Lepus, densities, precipitation, rabbits, Sylvilagus. RESUMEN.—Se conoce poco sobre los patrones de abundancia de conejos desérticos en el suroeste de Norte America, particularmente en relación con las influencias potencialmente importantes de la precipitación y la producción de plantas. Llevamos a cabo una investigación de diez años sobre la densidad relativa de la liebre de California (Lepus californicus) y el conejo cola de algodón (Sylvilagus audubonii) en los hábitats tanto de pradera de grama negra (Bouteloua eriopoda) como de matorral de gobernadora (Larrea tridentata) en el norte del Desierto Chihuahuense, en relación con la precipitación y la producción anuales. Encontramos que ambas especies de conejo fueron más abundantes en la pradera de grama negra que en el matorral de gobernadora, y que la producción de plantas estuvo correlacionada positivamente con la precipitación en ambos hábitats. Sin embargo, las densidades de conejos no estuvieron correlacionadas positivamente con la precipitación o con la producción de plantas en ninguno de los dos hábitats. De hecho, en cuanto a la fluctuación de su abundancia, las dos especies de conejo exhibieron tendencias graduales a lo largo de varios años, en comparación con los patrones de gran variación anual que se han observado en comunidades de roedores desérticos. La falta de una relación significativa entre la producción de plantas y la abundancia de conejos, indica que la abundancia de conejos en el norte del Desierto Chihuahuense no está fuertemente regulada por los efectos ascendentes a corto plazo de la variación anual en la producción de plantas. Los cambios reflejados en las tendencias a largo plazo indican que otros factores como las enfermedades o la depredación pueden ser de igual o mayor importancia, y sugerimos que investigaciones futuras deberán evaluar tanto las influencias ascendentes como las descendentes para entender las dinámicas temporales en la abundancia de conejos del Desierto Chihuahuense. Rabbit abundance patterns have been stud- American desert rabbit abundance remain ied relative to predator–prey and host–disease poorly understood. In contrast, considerable re- cycles (Clark 1972, Wagner and Stoddart 1972, search has been directed toward the study of Dwyer et al. 1990, Reddiex et al. 2002, Bartel desert rodent community ecology and abun- and Knowlton 2005) and rabbit pest outbreaks dance. This research on desert rodents ad - (Wood 1980, Wilson et al. 2002). However, the dresses aspects of com munity composition basic patterns over space and time of North (Brown et al. 1986, Brown and Zeng 1989, 1Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131. E-mail: [email protected] 2Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apdo Postal 70-275, México, D.F. 04510. 3Ecological Restoration Institute, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011. 4Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003. 490 2010] DESERT RABBIT ABUNDANCE, RAINFALL, AND PLANTS 491 Reichman 1991) and the relative effects of bot- variation in bottom-up environmental influ- tom-up (food resources: Beatley 1969, 1974, ences, such as rainfall and plant production, over Reichman 1975, Brown and Zeng 1989, Whit- multiple years. ford and Steinberger 1989, Brown and Heske The Chihuahuan Desert is characterized by 1990, Hunter and Price 1992, Power 1992, a mosaic of desert grasslands and shrublands. Ernest et al. 2000) and top-down (predation: Black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda) grasslands and Longland and Price 1991, Kotler et al. 1998, creosotebush (Larrea tridentata) shrublands are Meserve et al. 2003) influences on rodent den- common throughout the northern Chihuahuan sities. Generally, positive relationships exist be- Desert (Brown 1982, Havstad et al. 2006), and tween desert rodent densities and variation in each provides different habitat structure and annual rainfall, and presumably subsequent functional responses to rainfall. Black grama bottom-up effects of plant production (Beatley grasslands provide relatively low and homoge- 1969, 1974, Whitford and Steinberger 1989, nous vegetation structural profiles, and the shal- Ernest et al. 2000, Meserve et al. 2003). The low-rooted herbaceous vegetation grows quickly relative importance of bottom-up and top-down after rainfall (Ludwig 1986, Whitford 2002). regulation of popu lation dynamics and commu- Creosotebush shrublands provide taller vegeta- nity organization has been of great interest in tion profile habitats, but with fewer herbaceous ecology. Abiotic factors are thought to be espe- plants. The deep-rooted perennial shrubs do not cially important in arid systems because lim- respond immediately to rainfall but rather to ited rainfall controls the availability of resources. longer-term changes in deep soil moisture The pulse-reserve model for arid systems sug- (Schlesinger et al. 1990, Reynolds et al. 2004). gests strong bottom-up control of net primary Fundamental differences in these habitat types production and in turn abundance of consumers may differentially influence rabbit populations; (Reynolds et al. 2004). yet, studies that comparatively examine tempo- The black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus califor- ral trends of rabbit densities in relation to nicus) and the desert cottontail (Sylvilagus rainfall and plant production in grassland and audubonii) are the 2 common desert rabbit shrubland habitats are lacking. (Lagomorpha) species of the North American Temporal variation in northern Chihuahuan Southwest. Both species occur across a wide Desert rainfall is high, but most annual rainfall variety of habitats but prefer open semidesert occurs during late summer (Havstad et al. 2006). mixed grass and shrublands, with cottontails El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events additionally favoring riparian and scrub wood- cause additional variable, multiannual shifts lands (Anderson 1972, Schmidly 1974, Findley from opposing El Niño to La Niña rainfall pat- et al. 1975, Desmond 2004). Jackrabbits and terns (Holmgren et al. 2001, Brown and Ernest cottontails are abundant, medium-sized mam- 2002, Meserve et al. 2003), which drastically mals of Chihuahuan Desert landscapes and are change interannual ecosystem productivity. This known to serve as important food resources for process is particularly pronounced in arid sys- predators
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