Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Semester of Degree Completion

1981

Thesis Director

Richard D. Andrews

Abstract

Standard procedures for presenting home range data for species such as the fox squirrel on a single plane do not adequately represent the space they occupy. Comparisons of techniques for presenting the home range of this species on a three-dimensional basis were made using data obtained by direct observations of color marked squirrels. Three-dimensional ellipsoid models of their range varied from 9,154 m3 to 63,811 m3 and were assumed to be more accurate when observation points approached 50 in number. Rectangular parallelepipeds for the same data ranged from 9,784 m3 to 56,836 m3 and resulted in narrow, linear home ranges. Space within these three-dimensional models was not occupied uniformly since squirrel movements were recorded either at ground level or in the canopy. The most realistic representation of home range, therefore, was as two independent ellipses representing these two planes.

Download

Included in

Zoology Commons

Share

COinS