DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d3m23
title: Data from: Selective plant foraging and the top-down suppression of native diversity in a restored prairie

description: Clarifying what species are being consumed at what times can improve our
 understanding of how anthropogenic change affects food web dynamics, with
 implications for community assembly including restoration. This includes
 human-based changes to plant communities via species introductions, which
 can interact with consumer feeding preferences to indirectly alter
 assembly outcomes including reduced restoration success if planted species
 are preferentially targeted. We used DNA barcoding of plant material in
 rodent scat, combined with field-based feeding trials, rodent trapping,
 and rodent exclosures to test for dietary preferences and assembly impacts
 of native rodents on a restored and regionally rare tallgrass prairie of
 central North America. We examined whether native rodents preferred
 non-targeted and mostly non-native oldfield plants that are more locally
 abundant, thus protecting the rarer native planted species from
 consumption, or if rodents preferred native plants regardless of
 abundance. Our results supported the latter outcome. Barcoding revealed
 that native rodents consumed mostly non-planted oldfield species for ten
 months of the year (92% of the diet). The exceptions were
 August–September, when planted prairie species accounted for 87% of plants
 consumed and coincided with their peak seed production. Cafeteria trials
 suggested diet seasonality to be explained by food limitation – native
 prairie seeds were consumed year-round when made available. Non-targeted
 oldfield species thus appeared to be of sufficient quality to support
 rodent populations (peaking at 23 individuals ha−1 in summer), but without
 rescuing rarer prairie species from targeted granivory and resulting in
 reduced prairie diversity outside of experimental exclosures. Synthesis
 and applications. Our work illustrates how anthropogenic-based changes to
 producer communities may affect feeding pathways in grassland food webs,
 potentially facilitating establishment by non-target species via indirect
 consumer effects that can be difficult to detect. These findings suggest
 that rodents may reduce the restoration success of tallgrass prairie in
 our region, with some planted species likely to suffer future recruitment
 difficulties due to granivory. Managers may need to consider multiple
 trophic levels with restoration, not just the commonly planted producer
 communities but also the consumers and predators associated with them.
description: 12MonthSeedRemovalRecorded Seed Removal (Out of 5) for Seven Tallgrass Prairie Species by Small Mammals Over 12 Months from the Tallgrass Prairie EnvironmentCaptiveTrialSeedlingDamageSeeding Damage (Rated Out of 5) Considering Seven Tallgrass Prairie Species Caused by Small Mammals Within an Enclosed Environment After 7 DaysCaptiveTrialSeedRemovalSeed Removal (Out of 5) for 7 Tallgrass Prairie Species Caused by Small Mammals Within an Enclosed Environment Over 7 DaysDNAInstancesDetectedInstances of Plant DNA Found Within Samples of Mouse Scat Ranked As Native or Non-Native Considering the Tallgrass Prairie EnvironmentDNARatioDataRatio of Native and Non-Native Plant DNA Instances Detected in the Small Mammal Scat Samples by Replicate and MonthExclosureAbundanceRichnessDataData for the Full Factorial Design of Mowed, Seeded, and Exclosed Considering Plant Abundance and Richness.RodentPopSizeVsSeedRemovalComparison of Total Seed Removal / Number of Species Taken by Month and Small Mammal Population SizeRodentPopSugarMapleRemovalWeaselPopComparison of Percent Total Sugar Maple Removed by Small Mammal Population Size and Weasel Population