Small Mammal Demographic Data at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

This file contains mark/recapture trapping data collected from 2013-present on permanently established small mammal trapping webs in the creosote-shrubland ecotone on the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico. The two trapping webs are sampled for 3 consecutive nights once per month following the new moon. Each trapping web consists of 145 rebar stakes, 12 spokes originating from a central rebar point, each containing 12 rebars each. The first 4 stakes of the spoke are 5m apart, with the rest being 10m apart for a total of 100m per spoke (200m diameter).
Demographic data is collected from each captured animal including age, sex, species, trap location, and reproductive status. Each animal is marked with a unique ear or radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and tissue samples (hair, whiskers, blood and fecal) are collected from each individual once per month.
Demographic Findings: From 2013–2023, the program captured an average of 432 unique individuals per year across >10 species from two rodent families, Heteromyidae and Cricetidae. Heteromyids are the most abundant (~77% of captures), with Perognathus flavus (51%), Dipodomys merriami (11%), D. ordii (11%), and D. spectabilis (4%) dominating the community. Recapture rates for these species are >75%, generating longitudinal data on survival.

本数据集包含2013年至今，于新墨西哥州中部塞维莱塔国家野生动物保护区内石炭酸灌木灌丛交错带的长期布设小型哺乳动物诱捕网中采集的标记-重捕（mark/recapture）诱捕数据。
该研究共设置2处诱捕网，每月于新月后连续3夜开展采样工作。
每个诱捕网由145根钢筋桩构成：以1根中心钢筋桩为原点，向外布设12条辐射臂，每条辐射臂包含12根钢筋桩。单条辐射臂的前4根桩间距为5米，其余桩间距为10米，单臂总长100米，整个诱捕网直径达200米。
研究人员为每只捕获个体收集种群统计数据，包括年龄、性别、物种、诱捕位点及繁殖状态。
每只个体均通过专属耳标或射频识别（radio frequency identification，RFID）标签进行标记，并每月采集一次其组织样本（毛发、胡须、血液及粪便）。
种群统计结果显示：2013至2023年间，该项目年均捕获432只独特个体，隶属于啮齿目2个科——异鼠科（Heteromyidae）与仓鼠科（Cricetidae）的10余个物种。其中异鼠科个体占捕获总量的约77%，为群落优势类群，优势物种包括佛罗里达小囊鼠（Perognathus flavus，占比51%）、梅氏更格卢鼠（Dipodomys merriami，占比11%）、奥氏更格卢鼠（Dipodomys ordii，占比11%）以及壮丽更格卢鼠（Dipodomys spectabilis，占比4%），合计占捕获总量的77%。上述物种的重捕率均高于75%，由此可获取关于种群存活的纵向研究数据。