Ecological Relationships of the Mammals of the Bird Creek Region, Northeastern Oklahoma

The Influence of Types of Soil upon the Local Distribution of Some Mammals in Southwestern Utah

“…Dice (1940 :8) demonstrated correlation between soils and pelage colors across North Dakota in the same species and (1941 :3) showed that the light-colored mouse of the Nebraska sand hills region is lighter as a response to the light-colored soil. Blair (1941 :3) has shown a similar correlation between color of ground squirrels, Oitellus spilosoma major, and soil color. Those on the white sands in th~ Tularos~ Basin of New Mexico have larger and bnghter white spots than those on darker soils fifteen miles distant.…”

The Influence of Habitat Quality upon Density of Cotton Rat Populations

“…For example, in the : Stillwater, Oklahoma area, Sigmodon were found in a variety of grass-forb associations which provide dense cover. Elsewhere in Oklahoma cotton rats were found in sedge marsh associations (Blair, 1938),. intermontane meadows (Glass and Hal loran, 1961), tall grass along fence rows and terraces (Hayes, 1958), tall grass prairie (Frank, 1940); Phillips, 1936;and Smith, 1940), and mixed grass forb associations (Schendel, 1940).…”

“…During 1957During -1958During -1959 numbers of Sigmodon were found over broad areas in Oklahoma and Texas (Davis, 1958;McCulloch, 1959). High populations were also known to have occurred in Texas in 1854, 1886, 1889 (Allen, 1896;Anthony, 1917), in Oklahoma in 1936and 1939(Blair, 1938Schendel, 1940), Arizona in 1923or 1924(Silver, 1924), Georgia in 1925-26 (Stoddard, 1931), Texas in 1928(Strecker, 1929), Tennessee in 1933(Komarek, 1937), south Georgia in 1946-48 and 1952(Odtun, 1955 and Missouri in 1949-50 (Schwartz andSchwartz, 1959). The majority of these highs were followed by low populations.…”

“…During 1957-58-59 great numbers of Sigmodon were found over broad areas in Oklahoma and Texas (Davis, 1958;McCulloch, 1959). High populations were also known to have occurred in Texas in 1854, 1886, 1889(Allen, 1896Anthony, 1917), in Arizona in 1923or 1924(Silver, 1924, Georgia in 1925-26 (Stoddard, 1931), Texas in 1928 (Strecker, 1929), Tennessee in 1933(Komarek, 1937), Oklahoma in 1936and 1939(Blair, 1938Schendel, 1940), Louisiana in 1938 (Abegg, 1939), Georgia in 1946-48 and 1952( Odum, 1955 and Missouri in 1949-50 (Schwartz and Schwartz, 1959).…”

“…The use of the term "home range" refers to an area defined by Dice (1952) as an area over which an individual animal habitually travels while engaged in his usual daily activities. Blair (1941) suggests that movements of each animal may be deduced from the location of the traps in which it is captured. Although an animal's home range does not necessarily coincide with the polygon formed by capture sites, it is assumed, as suggested by Stickel (1954), that the home ranges revealed by live-trapping are closely related to the natural home range.…”