An Updated Annotated Checklist of the Mammals of the Crane Trust, Hall County, Nebraska

The Crane Trust is a regional nonprofit conservation organization that has protected land in the biologically important Central Platte River Valley for over four decades. A mammal inventory was conducted on the Crane Trust’s main habitat complex in 1980. Since, a variety of environmental conditions have shifted locally, regionally, and globally. An analysis of the mammal community was conducted using past and recent data to determine how species composition and relative abundance have shifted categorically from 1980 to 2021. We used all available data to categorize relative abundance during two distinct time periods per a modified “DAFOR” scale including 7 total categories: dominant, abundant, frequent, occasional, rare, incidental, and not detected. We then discuss the potential drivers of that community change and their implications for regional conservation programs. Fifty-two mammal species have been identified on Crane Trust property since 1980, with 19 of them being new detections since 2011. However, this discrepancy in species richness over time is likely driven, in part, by the fact recent sampling efforts were more intensive. A handful of species did not change in abundance per our ordinal ranking system (n = 9). Several species shifted slightly, moving just one abundance category (n = 32). However, a moderate number of species shifted relative abundance significantly and changed by more than two ordinal categories (n = 10). Significant decreases in abundance were more commonly seen with species that occupy prairies. Notable increases in abundance were commonly seen with woodland and wetland species. These shifts may reflect local success in wetland restorations, regional woody encroachment, and regional declines in grassland quality and quantity.