HAYSMITH: NEOTOMA F. FLORIDANA IN NORTH-CENTRAL FLORIDA


 While Neotomafloridana has a broad geographical range, it appears to have
a patchy distribution throughout the range for unknown reasons (Schwartz and
Odum 1957). Habitat requirements of this species are poorly understood; it is
found in rocky cliffs, ravines, upland oak forests, hardwood bottomland forests,
riparian woods, and lowland wet hammocks (Hamilton and Whitaker 1981). Their
presence in widely different habitats throughout the eastern United States creates
difficulty in understanding if optimal or suboptimal habitats can be distinguished
and what specific habitat features are necessary to meet life history requirements.
 In peninsular Florida, mammal distributions are very complex (Eisenberg
1989). Neotoma floridana distribution is likewise unclear, but it appears to occur
throughout most of peninsular Florida. Layne (1974) indicated the range did not
extend south of Lake Okeechobee, and Greer (1978) discovered woodrats in highly
localized populations south to DeSoto County. Greer indicated south Florida
Neotoma populations are disjunct for unknown reasons and speculated that coastal
development may be influencing their distribution.
 Populations of the eastern woodrat occur in a wide range of densities
throughout its geographical distribution in the United States. Numerous
researchers have attributed different densities to habitat conditions, food
availability, predation pressure, and other ecological factors (Worth 1950; Pearson
1952; Goertz 1970). However, it is not clear what factors may be most important
in influencing the highly variable densities.
 While densities vary throughout its range, populations of the eastern woodrat
appear to be stable in some areas, and vulnerable in others. Woodrats are
endangered in Key Largo, Florida (subspecies, N. f small; Humphrey 1988) and
threatened in New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and New York, where it has
completely disappeared from much of its historical range (Sciascia 1990). While
the woodrat is not threatened in most of the southeast, native habitats of mesic
hardwood forests in Florida which appear to be the principal habitat are rapidly
disappearing. Studies are needed to understand life history parameters, and those
that influence their density and distribution.
 Incongruent reports on the life history of Neotoma floridana prompted this
investigation into population parameters, movement patterns, and habitat
utilization on macro and micro levels. My goal was to investigate parameters that
influence the density and distribution of Neotoma f floridana in mesic forest
habitats on the Ordway Preserve. I had four chief objectives in this study: (a) to
assess woodrat population dynamics among and within mesic forests at the Ordway
Preserve; (b) to identify whether this sub-species exhibits habitat preferences
among and within mesic forest types; (c) to determine home range size, pattern,
and nest use; and (d) to assess whether movement and nesting activity may be
related to specific habitat features.