Valone and Sauter looked at the effects of cattle exclusion, for over 20 years, from a shrub-dominated site to see how rodents and grass species would respond. The authors believe that high cattle use in the area has caused desertification leading to the invasion of shrubs, such as creosote bush. Grass canopy cover outside the grazing exclosure was 1%, while inside the exclosure the basal cover was more than 5%. Rodent diversity was quite low outside the exclosure, with kangaroo rats making up 90% of all individuals captured. Inside the exclosure, kangaroo rats still dominated the rodent community, but there was a significant increase in pocket mice numbers (18%), as compared to the 1% caught outside the exclosure. Valone and Sauter believe that it is possible to reverse the effects of desertification on grassland ecosystems, which is essential for high rodent species diversity, typical of transitional communities (grasslands to shrubs or shrubs to grasslands).
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