SURVEY OF SMALL MAMMALS IN WET MEADOW HABITAT OF THE UPPER
MISSISSIPPI RIVER FLOODPLAIN.  

Kellie A. Kroc.   University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse,
WI 54601.  

Small mammals were surveyed in a wet meadow habitat of the Upper
Mississippi River floodplain by live trapping in late July and
August 1998. Two trapping grids were established at Halfway Creek
wet meadow area of the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and
Fish Refuge, near Midway, WI.  One grid of 25 traps set one meter
apart was placed in a section of meadow that was burned in May. 
The other grid of 50 traps was established on an unburned
section.  The trapping was conducted for a total of 8 trap nights
on the burned and 14 trap nights on the unburned plots.  Meadow
voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) were the most abundant species
captured on both the burned (35) and unburned (57) sites.  Seven
short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda) were captured, all at
the unburned site.  Meadow jumping mice (Zapus hudsonius), a
species previously not reported in La Crosse County, was captured
in both grids in very small numbers.  Physical characteristics
such as sex, reproductive condition, and weight of individual
animals were examined and compared between plots. 

Keywords:  Blarina brevicauda, Microtus pennsylvanicus, small
mammals, wet meadow, Zapus hudsonius