Museum of Natural History
August 24, 1953 in Northeastern Kansas
University Of Kansas
Lawrence
1953
University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History
Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard, Robert W. Wilson
Published August 24, 1953
Lawrence, Kansas
FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1953
24-7812
in Northeastern Kansas
On the 590-acre University of Kansas Natural History Reservationwhere our study was made, the opossum, Didelphis marsupialis virginianaKerr, is the largest predatory animal having a permanentlyresident population. The coyote, racoon and red fox also occur onthe area but each ranges widely, beyond the Reservation boundaries.With the passing nearly a century ago of the larger animals of theoriginal fauna, the buffalo, elk, deer, antelope, wild turkey, graywolf and others, lesser herbivores and carnivores including the opossumand animals of similar size fell heir to their key positions ofpredominance at the peak of the food pyramid. These smaller animals,however, exert less powerful effects in controlling the generalaspect of the biotic community, and affect it in different directions.The over-all ecology is greatly altered. The flora and fauna bothare undergoing successional changes which will continue for a longtime and probably will culminate in a biotic community much differentfrom the original climax.
The opossum plays an important part in this process of change;being relatively large, numerous, and of omnivorous habits, it variouslyinfluences, directly and indirectly, the populations of its plantand animal associates, t