The Influence of Habitat Quality upon Density of Cotton Rat Populations

Goertz, John W.

doi:10.2307/2937068

Cited by 104 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…(Aulak, 1970;Banach et al, 1980;Mazurkiewicz, 1984;and others). It is generally assumed that the favourability of a biotope for a population decreases with the increase of the animal density, resulting, for instance, in seasonal animal [229] dispersal to suboptimal bio topes (Goertz, 1964;Fretwell & Lucas, 1969;Anderson, 1970;Fretwell, 1972;Rottenbery & Wiens, 1976;Hansson, 1977aHansson, , 1977bHansson, , 1979; and others). Therefore in different, as regards quality, biotopes of a patchy environment small rodent communities may differ not only in their specific composition, but also in the share of given species in the community, the durability of the community structure, the 'degree of attachment of respective species to the biotope etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small rodent communities in a complex of forest biotopes

Banach¹

1987

Acta Theriol.

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The species permanently inhabiting the given biotopes and the ones immigrating periodically were then distinguished, according to their places of capture. Two categories of rodents were also distinguished -those using one habitat only (one-habitat) and those using two or more habitats (multihabitat). The major differences between small rodent communities in the biotopes under study resulted from the share of the respective species in a given biotope, ike. its position in the dominance structure and the length of time spent in the biotope. The study has revealed that diverse biotopes neighbouring in the same area account for enrichment if species composition in small rodent communities. The share of species immigrating seasonally from other biotopes depended on population density and the position of Clethrionomys glareolus, the species resident permanently throughout the study area, in the dominance structure.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small rodent communities in a complex of forest biotopes

Banach¹

1987

Acta Theriol.

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“…This difference in vegetative structure appears to account for most of the differences in the rodent comrnunity. Studies of cotton rats and harvest mice have shown that both species are strongly associated with dense stands of grass (Goertz 1964, Ford 1977. The similarity in abundance of Merriam's kangaroo rats on control and treated plots was unexpected since heteromyids are generally more abundant in areas with sparse ground cover (Stamp and Ohmart 1978).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management of amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals in North America: Proceedings of the symposium

Szaro¹,

Severson²,

Patton³

1988

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“…The small mammal community on the site consists of at least six species (Golley et al 1965), the largest of which is the cotton rat, Sigmodon hispidus. We chose the cotton rat as our focal species because it is a habitat generalist (Golley et al 1965;O'Farrell et al 1977;Kincaid and Cameron 1985), a herbivore with relatively small home range (Goertz 1964;Wiegert and Mayenschein 1966), and is the most common species other than the short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilization of a habitat mosaic by cotton rats during a population decline

et al. 1992

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This study describes the demographic features of a population of Sigmodon hispidus utilizing the habitat mosaic provided by a Carolina Bay on the Atlantic coastal plain of South Carolina. A total of 71 cotton rats were captured 160 times on a 4 ha grid during a winter decline from 25/ha to less that 1/ha. Body weights of adults declined until early February and then increased; those of subadults grew very slowly until February followed by a spurt in growth. Weight gain did not differ between survivors and non-survivors for males, but female survivors gained 1.5 g per week more than non-survivors. Female subadults exhibited higher mortality early in the decline and males later.Adult females were randomly distributed across 8 microhabitats, whereas adult males were almost exclusively confined to heavy Rubus cover. Subadult males used wet sites more than any other cohort; subadult females were widely distributed using drier sites most frequently. By the end of the decline, all survivors were localized in Rubus-dominated patches. No statistically significant changes in electromorph genotypes or allele frequencies were detected, but survivors had a higher frequency of the F-allele at the adenylate kinase locus than did non-survivors (42.3% vs. 16.7%). Our findings affirm the importance of a landscape perspective in understanding the population dynamics of cotton rats, and show how a habitat mosaic influences survival differentially among sex-age cohorts.

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The Influence of Habitat Quality upon Density of Cotton Rat Populations

Abstract: This project was pursued mainly as a field investigation employing conventional methods, such as : live-trapping on established grids, marking and releasing, snap-trapping on transects to sample differing habitat types.

Cited by 104 publications

References 54 publications

Small rodent communities in a complex of forest biotopes

Small rodent communities in a complex of forest biotopes

Management of amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals in North America: Proceedings of the symposium

Utilization of a habitat mosaic by cotton rats during a population decline

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