Concerns about the impacts of humans on the environment have created a need to understand best practices for habitat restoration, maintenance and monitoring of biodiversity. This project will develop the use of the physiological and behavioral responses of a top predator to monitor the effectiveness of habitat restoration aimed at improving habitat quality for wildlife. Because they are at the top of the food chain, predators reflect changes in habitat quality in their behavior, growth, and body weight. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission plans to manipulate forest plots using cutting and application of controlled fire to increase food availability for wildlife. The investigator will use standard ecological and physiological monitoring techniques to quantify the responses of plants, small mammals and a top predator, the Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) in manipulated and unmanipulated forest plots. It is expected that forest manipulations will result in increased seed production at ground level, increased small mammal diversity and abundance, and improvements in body condition and growth rate of the predator. Furthermore, it is likely that changes in habitat structure will influence the ability of the snakes to regulate their body temperatures, which also will affect their growth and body condition. The project provides a unique opportunity to understand detailed connections between food producing plants, small mammal populations and their primary predator. Validation of the use of predator responses to monitor forest health will be an important contribution to the field of habitat restoration and management, and will provide important information about the physiological responses of these top predators to the impacts of habitat change.
The broader impacts of this project focus on public education, teacher training, and undergraduate and graduate education. Direct involvement of hundreds of 5th grade students is planned through the incorporation of seed fall surveys into the Ozark Natural Science Center curriculum. Participation of members of underrepresented groups will be aggressively pursued through appropriate programs at the University of Arkansas. Finally, the work will strengthen research ties and cooperation between University of Arkansas researchers and important state agencies such as the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission.
