DO GOLF COURSES SUSTAIN GENETICALLY DIVERSE DEER MOUSE (PEROMYSCUS MANICULATUS) POPULATIONS?
Erika L. Barthelmess and Jolaine Roycewicz. Biology Department, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, USA. ABSTRACT- As urbanization and development increase, semi-natural landscapes like golf courses are becoming more important as green spaces for wildlife. Golf courses are, however, fragmented landscapes. We set out to determine whether the scale of habitat fragmentation on the St. Lawrence University golf course limits genetic diversity in deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) populations compared to populations occurring in an adjacent, unfragmented woodland. To do so, we established a series of live-trapping grids on five golf course “islands,” patches of woodland surrounded by a “sea” of greens and fairways. For comparison, we paired each golf course island trapping grid with a duplicate mainland grid established in a nearby woodland. We trapped both golf course and woodland grids 4 to 5 days per week for 8 weeks during the summer of 2002. From each deer mouse caught we collected a
