HAYSMITH: NEOTOMA F FLORIDANA IN NORTH-CENTRAL FLORIDA


because woodrat dens are the center of all their activity, as documented in this and
other studies. Home ranges were analyzed by individual animal, gender, daily and
monthly time periods, and habitat type.
 The minimum convex polygon is the traditional method used in
radiotelemetry studies. It is constructed by connecting the outermost animal
locations, and calculating the area within this polygon. The modified concave
polygon is similar to the minimum convex polygon, but uses a prespecified
maximum distance between perimeter points in the analysis, eliminating outlying
points (Harvey and Barbour 1965). Observations that are farthest from the
arithmetic center are thus removed and several use areas are produced, therefore
the modified concave polygon (COC) method yields the smallest ranges.
 Fluorescent pigments were used to evaluate three-dimensional movements
and habitat utilization. Two methods were implemented: full-body dusting and
attachment of fluorescent capsules. Full-body dusting was done by placing an
animal in a bag with fluorescent powder, lightly shaking the bag with the woodrat,
and immediately releasing the animal. The capsule method involved fabricating a
small capsule from paraffin wax, and dental acrylic (Goodyear 1989), injecting
powder, and gluing the capsule to the animals pelage. Powder trails were followed
with a battery operated UV light, using stakes and flags to mark the trails (Leman
and Freeman 1985; Goodyear 1989).
 Micro-habitats in heterogenous mesic forests were mapped in the field to
obtain information on understory strata not discernible on aerial photographs.
These maps were later transformed to habitat maps drawn to the output scale of the
Telem88 home range program (Coleman and Jones 1988) for plotting animal home
ranges, with delineations set at proper compass bearings.
 Utilization of habitat by woodrats was assessed by plotting all animal home
range locations and overlaying these points onto the habitat maps, using X and Y
coordinates. The radiotelemetry locations were thereby assigned to a habitat, and
points were tallied for each of these categories (Sunquist 1989).


 RESULTS
 Habitat


 Ground, herbaceous, and canopy cover, in addition to litter depth was
evaluated between the three habitat types. Parametric tests (ANOVA) and non-
parametric tests (Kruskal-Wallis) were used to determine if differences existed
between habitat types for vegetative parameters. Mean values for the three types of
cover and litter depth were similar, and an ANOVA demonstrated no significant
differences for cover and litter between habitats (p=0.05).
 Species composition of plants between the three habitat types were similar in
canopy, midstory, shrub, and herbaceous strata. Tree species diversity was high in