<p>Corridors have been shown to serve as movement conduits for a wide variety of species, though their effects on interspecific interactions have been largely unstudied. I designed a replicated experiment to investigate corridor-mediated prey responses to predators in a network of open habitat patches surrounded by a matrix of planted pine forest. I used mark-recapture studies and foraging trays to monitor the movements and behaviors of several small mammal species. The presence of predators was artificially manipulated in half of my replicates by applying bobcat urine to specific patches. I then compared the movements of small mammals and changes in foraging activity in the treated and untreated replicates, and tested how corridors affected behaviors and population sizes. I found significant differences in foraging activity between patches treated with predator urine and patches to which they were connected, whereas I found no differences in foraging activity in unconnected patches adjacent to treated patches. Movements detected by mark-recapture were too infrequent for analysis, but were proportionally consistent with previous results showing corridor effects on movement. There were no significant differences in small mammal abundances between connected and unconnected patches. These results suggest that corridors do facilitate movement between habitat patches and prey will preferentially use corridors to forage in patches with reduced predation risk. However, the corridors in this study had no apparent affect on long-term displacement of small mammals.<P>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-20020409-163139 |
| Date | 12 April 2002 |
| Creators | Brinkerhoff, Robert Jory |
| Contributors | Nick M. Haddad, James F. Gilliam, Kenneth H. Pollock |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-20020409-163139 |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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