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Science 10 February 1995:
Vol. 267. no. 5199, pp. 880 - 883
DOI: 10.1126/science.7846530
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Articles

Science, Vol 267, Issue 5199, 880-883
Copyright © 1995 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Effects of competition, colonization, and extinction on rodent species diversity

TJ Valone and JH Brown

Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque 87131.

Analyses of long-term experimental data from the Chihuahuan desert revealed that species diversity of other rodents was higher on plots from which kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spp.) had been removed. The difference was due to consistently higher colonization and lower extinction probabilities of small granivorous rodents in the absence of competitively dominant kangaroo rats. The results of this ecosystem experiment demonstrate the importance of both competitive exclusion and metapopulation dynamics for biological diversity in a natural community.


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