Cattle grazing has been shown to alter various features of desert communities. These alterations may impact microhabitats required by various species of desert rodents, with unknown implications for desert rodent communities. In this study, a series of studies were undertaken at replicated heavily and lightly grazed sites to investigate effects of cattle grazing on desert rodent densities, relative abundances, home range sizes, body condition, and microhabitat use in salt desert shrub communities of the western Great Basin Desert. These plant communities harbor perhaps the greatest number of rodent species among all the diverse environments in this desert.;Monitoring of rodent populations with repeated livetrapping showed that different levels of grazing lead to alterations in relative abundances of some species. Specifically, Dipodomys merriami was more abundant in heavily grazed areas, and Perognathus longimembris was more abundant in lightly grazed areas. In addition, home range sizes for some species were found to be greater in heavily grazed areas, possibly because animals had to move further to obtain adequate resources.;Results from the trapping experiments, vegetation analyses, and rodent microhabitat-use experiments revealed that cattle, by preferentially feeding on certain plants, can create conditions that are more desirable for some species of rodents, while reducing important microhabitats for others.
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