Species-Specific Management (SSM)

The White-footed Deer Mouse

The white-footed deer mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) is the most numerous mammal of the southern Appalachian forest. It forms the base of the ecological pyramid for fauna. They are eaten by all omnivores and carnivores of the forest - snakes, large frogs,mammals, and birds . They do not hibernate and are thus winter prey. In death they provide collected concentrations of calcium and phosphorus for plants and animals. They have been called pests in some intensively managed forests since they eat tree seeds. They also eat berries and other fruit, nuts, insects, and grains. They also eat fungi and distribute the tree-root-enhancing mycorrhiza of these plants.

They may have 2-4 litters per year with 4-8 in each letter.

There are few animals or plants that are one-dimensional in value. The white-footed mouse may be a reservoir of several diseases:

Lyme disease
Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis
Babesiosis
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome
Plague

Few people consider "managing mice." It is as reasonable to do so as it is to plant grains for quail. When managing for mammalian carvivores such as the bobcat, or for the raptors, managing for mice seems reasonable. The major requirement is for dry nesting places and cached foods for winter. Supplying winter foods (perpetual feeders of grains) or preventing disturbance and cache destruction are practices for intensive management. Providing or maintaining "highways" for mice to reduce energy costs of movement can be done by reducing fires, reducing firewood gathering, and selective placement of tree tops after logging to provided connected triangulated pathways. Densities are about 4 to 12 per acre, suggesting the range within which managerial efforts might be meaningful (e.g., doubling a population from 5 to 10 per acre). They are a major prey species and thus increasing populations in the short term may be achieved by reducing select predator pressure.

"Habitat areas for for mice are rarely mouseless for very long."

Dice.

See King, J.A. ed.1968. Biology of Peromyscus (Rodentia), Amer. Soc. Mammalogists (Special Pub No. 2.) , Stillwater, OK. xiv+ 594pp.

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Last revision May 26, 2006.