University of Kansas PublicationsMuseum of Natural History
Volume 8, No. 9, pp. 499-533, 3 figs.
June 12, 1956
University of Kansas
Lawrence
1956
University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History
Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard,
Robert W. Wilson
Volume 8, No. 9, pp. 499-533
Published June 12, 1956
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
PRINTED BY
FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1956
The eastern woodrat exerts important effects on its community associatesby its use of the vegetation for food, by providing shelter in its stickhouses for many other small animals, and by providing a food supply forcertain flesh-eaters. In the course of our observations on this rodenton the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation, extending overan eight-year period, from February, 1948, to February, 1956, theseeffects have changed greatly as the population of woodrats hasconstantly changed in density, and in extent of the area occupied.
This report is concerned with the population of woodrats on theReservation, the changes that the species has undergone, and the factorsthat have affected it. Our two sets of field data, used as a basis forthis report, supplement each other and overlap little, either in time orspace. Fitch's field work which covered approximately the western halfof the Reservation, was begun in September, 1948, and was pursued mostintensively in the autumn of 1948 and in 1949, with relatively smallamounts of data obtained in 1950 and 1951 because of the great reductionin numbers of rats. Rainey's field work began in the spring of 1951 andwas continued through 1954, concentrating on a colony in the extremenorthwestern corner of the Reservation and on adjacent privately ownedland. In actual numbers of rats live-trapped and for total number ofrecords the two sets of data are comparable. Fitch's field workconsisted chiefly of live-trapping while Rainey's relied also uponvarious other approaches to the woodrat's ecology. Rainey's findingswere incorporated originally in a more comprehensive report (1956), fromwhich short passages have been extracted that are most pertinent to thepresent discussion. Our combined data represent 258 woodrats (153Fitch's and 105 Rainey's) caught a total of 1110 times (660 Rainey's and450 Fitch's). Rainey's records pertain, in part, to woodrats outside theReservation but within a few hundred yards, at most, of its boundaries.[Pg 502]
In the autumn of 1948 the population of woodrats was far below the levelit had attained in 1947 or earlier, but the rats were still abundant anddistributed throughout a variety of habitats. Almost every part of thewoodland was occupied by at least a sparse population. Also, many ratslived beyond the limits of the woodland proper, in such places asdeserted buildings, thickets, roadside hedges, and tangles of exposedtree roots along cut banks of gullies. All these situations arecharacterized by providing abundant cover, a limiting factor for thiswoodrat.
In 1947, when the population of woodrats was especially high, plantsuccession