HAYSMITH: NEOTOMA F. FLORIDANA IN NORTH-CENTRAL FLORIDA


raccoon (Procyon lotor) predation. Owl and snake predation occurred at Ross and
Goose lakes mesicc hammock with saw-palmetto understory) and at Suggs Lake
mesicc hammock with open understory), with no predation observed in the
bottomland hardwood swamp.


 Home Range and Activity


 A total of 27 animals (16 males and 11 females) were radiotracked in all
months of the year. The time period that each animal was tracked ranged from
less than 1 month to 6 months. Home ranges of woodrats did not overlap in most
of the study areas. Of the total home ranges plotted (n=23), only three overlapped,
and all were male/female associations.
 Home range sizes of woodrats varied from small to very large in all three
habitat types (Fig. 4) and belonged to both males and females. Home ranges larger
than 1.0 ha (n=7) were recorded for 57% males and 43% females. Mean home
range size for females was 0.72 ha (n=14) and 0.68 ha for males (n=10). However,
a t-test showed no significant differences in home range size between the sexes
(p=0.05).
 The minimum convex polygon (MCP) method produced larger home range
sizes than the modified concave polygon (COC) method (Table 11). However, an
ANOVA indicated no significant differences existed for home range between
gender and habitat types, for either the MCP (Table 12) or COC methods (p=0.05).
In order to compare parametric and non-parametric results of home range analysis,
a Kruskal-Wallis, non-parametric test was used to analyze home range by habitat
type using the MCP and COC methods. The test indicated no significant
differences existed (p=0.05) for either of these analyses by habitat (Table 12).
 The mean home range size for animals in the bottomland swamp (BSW)
(n=5) using the minimum convex polygon method (MCP) was 0.60 ha; in the
mesic hardwood with saw-palmetto understory (MHP) it was 1.09 ha (n=12; and in
the mesic hammock with open understory (MH) it was 0.27 ha (n=7) (Table 13).
 Home range size was also analyzed in relationship to the number of dens
used. Mean home range size for woodrats using one den site was 0.43 ha (n=14).
The mean home range size for animals subsequently using different dens was 0.27
ha (n=4), and mean home range size for woodrats concurrently using two dens was
1.22 ha (n=10) (Table 14). Of the total animals monitored with known den sites
(n=27), 60% used one den, while 19% concurrently used two dens, 26% used two
dens subsequently, and 7% used three dens (category overlap). Of the seven
woodrats subsequently using two or three dens, five were females in reproductive
condition, and two were males moving to recently abandoned dens. One male had
an unusually large range of 2.34 ha which had been expanded from 0.05 ha to