Life History of the Kangaroo Rat, Dipodomys spectabilis spectabilis Merriam

The composition of seed banks on kangaroo rat (Dipodomys spectabilis) mounds in a Chihuahuan Desert grassland

Disturbance is a major factor determining the plant community structure of ecological systems. In particular, small-scale disturbances from animals can increase heterogeneity and species diversity in plant communities. Kangaroo rat (Dipodomys spectabilis) mounds are small-scale disturbances that support unique plant communities compared to surrounding habitats. The seed bank, which is usually a...

Recent demographic bottlenecks are not accompanied by a genetic signature in banner-tailed kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spectabilis).

Single-sample methods of bottleneck detection are now routine analyses in studies of wild populations and conservation genetics. Three common approaches to bottleneck detection are the heterozygosity excess, mode-shift, and M-ratio tests. Empirical groundtruthing of these methods is difficult, but their performances are critical for the accurate reconstruction of population demography. We use t...

Catastrophic Decline of a Desert Rodent, Dipodomys Spectabilis: Insights from a Long-term Study

We describe the catastrophic decline of a species of keystone rodent at a Chihuahuan Desert site. The population density of Dipodomys spectabilis averaged 7.6 individualslha from 1977 to 1983, but declined to near extinction over the winter of 1983-1984. We propose hypotheses to explain this decline: 1 ) disease; 2) damage to seed stores by heavy precipitation; 3) contamination of seed stores b...

Ultraviolet Communication in the Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys ordii)

Regeneration in Sabellastarte spectabilis Chase Beal