College - Author 1
College of Science and Mathematics
Department - Author 1
Biological Sciences Department
Degree Name - Author 1
BS in Biological Sciences
Date
3-2013
Primary Advisor
Francis Villablanca
Abstract/Summary
The breeding season of kangaroo rats has not been a widely studied topic, and therefore is not very well known. Dipodomys heermanni is the species of interest for this study and is thought to breed from February to October (Kelt, 1988). The purpose of this study is to take this broad time period and narrow it down to prime breeding activity months. I hypothesized the prime breeding season of Dipodomys heermanni arenae to be between March and June. Mark-recapture methods were applied to the kangaroo rats at our study site in the Guadalupe Nipomo Dunes National Wildlife Refuge during the months of March, June, September, and December. Data collected included gender as well as the breeding condition, or reproductive state. Two separate Chi-squared tests were performed on contingency tables, one for males, and the other for females. The results demonstrated breeding condition for both genders is dependent on time of year; there was a significantly greater proportion of reproductive males and females during March and June, and a significantly greater proportion of males and females not in reproductive breeding condition during September and December.
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/biosp/26