Notes on the Mammals of Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties, Michigan, 1920: Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, Number 109Dice, Lee R. (Lee Raymond)
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Notes on the Mammals of Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties, Michigan, 1920: Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, Number 109
_Ditch-border habitat:_ A number of small ditches run through an old
beaver meadow of considerable size near Gogebic Lake, about two miles
southwest of Merriweather. The borders of the ditches are muddy and the
banks are from 6 to 18 inches high; in places the ditch borders are
closely encroached upon by the tall sedges of the adjacent meadow. A
small amount of water was present (in early September) in most of the
ditches. In mouse traps set at the edges of these ditches, partly in
the water, star-nosed moles and navigator shrews were taken. In a
larger trap a skunk was taken.
_Tall-sedge habitat:_ In the beaver meadow studied near Gogebic Lake,
an area about 200 meters by 100 meters or more is occupied by a heavy
growth of high, coarse sedges, reaching a height of about .75 to 1.00
meter. A few grasses and some low herbs occur sparingly among the
sedges. The habitat had not been burned over and the ground is covered
with a thick mat of the decaying leaves and stems of the sedges and
grasses. In most places the ground is quite wet, sometimes soggy to
walk upon, and in a few places low hummocks are numerous. A similar
habitat was found in rather a narrow strip at the edge of Mud Lake,
one-fourth mile southwest of Thousand Island Lake, Gogebic County. Here
a small area of meadow occurs along the inlet of a tiny stream. This
area apparently had been artificially cleared of its forest, but the
level of the lake had not been raised.
The habitat differs from the submerged-sedge habitat of protected lake
shores in being higher above the water and in not being covered with
water from July to September; probably water does not stand to any
depth on it at any time. The Richardson shrew is apparently a
characteristic mammal of this habitat, though other shrews and mice
were taken here also.
_Grassy-meadow habitat:_ Part of the beaver meadow studied near Gogebic
Lake is covered by a thick growth of grasses and sedges of a number of
species. The ground of the habitat was rather dry and had been burned
over the previous year. Grasses are also dominant over a few small
areas near Mud Lake in Gogebic County. On a small area of the clearing
near this lake a thick stand of bluegrass (Poa) is almost the only
plant present. This occurs on an area of fairly moist mud. On the drier
slope near the forest Poa also is abundant, forming the dominant
species over a strip about 5 to 10 meters wide. Jumping mice are common
in this habitat.
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