Rodent communities in native and exotic riparian vegetation in the middle Rio Grande Valley of central New Mexico

Rodent communities were monitored in two native cottonwood (Populus deltoides spp. wislizenii) and two exotic saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima) riparian forest sites in the Middle Rio Grande Valley of central New Mexico. Species richness was greater in saltcedar, due to the addition of some species typically associated with dry upland or grassland conditions, which probably reflects proximity to source habitats. The predominant species in both vegetation types was Peromyscus leucopus, for which abundance estimates, reproductive data, and sex ratios did not differ between vegetation types. June and August abundances of P. leucopus at saltcedar sites were positively correlated with precipitation the previous winter, which suggests that use of saltcedar may vary with short-term weather conditions.