This study compared small mammal communities between upper and lower elevation grassland systems using mark-recapture, and examined third and fourth order resource selection of daytime refuge sites by deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) in lower elevation grasslands using radio telemetry, near Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Small mammal densities showed high levels of variability. Deer mice were found in both habitat types, and survival rates between the two grassland types were not significantly different. Voles (Microtus spp.) were confined to the upper grasslands. Radio-collared deer mice selected daytime refuge sites in areas with increased slope and decreased litter (third order), at sites with large-diameter shrubs, decreased levels of bare ground and increased levels of coarse woody debris (fourth order). Land managers can use this information to begin filling knowledge gaps in species-specific recovery plans, and to help inform anthropogenic-related activities in grasslands so as to maintain rodent populations on the landscape.
