Understory Vegetation Structure and Soil Characteristics of Geomys pinetis (Southeastern Pocket Gopher) Habitat in Southwestern Georgia
| Autor: | Steven B. Castleberry, Ashley E. Warren, Daniel Markewitz, L. Mike Conner |
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| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Geomys pinetis Rodent biology Soil texture Ecology Fossorial Fragmentation (computing) Understory Vegetation biology.organism_classification 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences 010601 ecology Habitat biology.animal Environmental science Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics |
| Zdroj: | The American Midland Naturalist. 178:215-225 |
| ISSN: | 1938-4238 0003-0031 |
| DOI: | 10.1674/0003-0031-178.2.215 |
| Popis: | Geomys pinetis (Southeastern pocket gopher) is a fossorial rodent historically associated with Pinus palustris (longleaf pine) communities. Conversion and fragmentation of longleaf pine communities have reduced quality and quantity of southeastern pocket gopher habitat. It is therefore important to determine characteristics of suitable habitat for future conservation efforts focusing on maintaining or restoring appropriate habitat conditions. We quantified understory vegetation structure (i.e., ground cover categories) and soil characteristics (i.e., soil texture, pH, nitrogen, and carbon at multiple depths) in areas with and without pocket gopher activity. We evaluated a suite of models to determine whether understory vegetation structure, soil characteristics, or a combination of vegetation and soil characteristics were better predictors of gopher presence. Soil characteristics predicted pocket gopher presence better than understory vegetation structure with the best overall model combining per... |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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