One hundred and twelve plots were established in scrub and flatwoods on the Kennedy Space Center to evaluate relationships between number of burrows and densities. The standard correction factor (0.614) was not suitable for estimating the number of tortoises from burrow counts for the Kennedy Space Center.
Category Archives: Biometry
King, J. R. and S. D. Porter. 2005. Evaluation of sampling methods and species richness estimators for ants in upland ecosystems in Florida. Environ. Entomol. 34(6):1566-1578.
In this study, the authors evaluated the efficiency of a structured inventory of ants in five plant communities, including scrub at Archbold Biological Station.
Kinlaw, A. E. 2012. First step in development of a quadrat-based protocol to sample gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) in burrows. Florida Scientist 75(3):176-188.
A quadrat-based sampling protocol was used to survey low density gopher tortoise burrows in four plant communities (i.e., sand pine scrub, pine flatwoods, oak scrub, and Oak hammock) at the Avon Park Bombing Range in central Florida.
Miller, K. E., Doonan, T. J. and D. W. Pearson. 2003. Florida scrub-jay monitoring program at Cedar Key State Reserve and vicinity. Final Performance Report. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Tallahassee, Fl. USA. 20 pp.
This study monitored the Florida scrub jay population of Cedar Key State Reserve during the breeding year of 2000. This scrub-jay population has declined from an estimated 100 individuals as recently as 1982 to approximately 24 individuals in 2000. Management of the scrub habitat is urgently needed to increase the viability of this declining population.
Peroni, P. A. and W. G. Abrahamson. 1985. A rapid method for determining losses of native vegetation. Natural Area J. 5(1):20-24.
A method involving the use of microcomputer graphics to measure habitat area, soil maps to determine the presettlement extent of native vegetation, and current aerial photographs to provide data on habitat losses is discussed for the central ridge of Florida. Data shows that 64.2% of the scrub, scrubby flatwoods and southern ridge sandhills have been lost to pasture, development and cultivation.
Pike, D. A., Peterman, K. S. and J. H. Exum. 2007. Use of altered habitats by the endemic sand skink (Plestiodon reynoldsi Stejneger). Southeastern Naturalist 6(4):715-726.
This study evaluated the occurrence of an endemic sand skink that normally occurs in scrub and sandhill with human altered vegetation types. Sand skinks can persist in human-altered habitats, at least when the underlying soils are suitable for their presence and have not been modified. These altered sites do have conservation value and future studies should focus on restoration of these habitats for this species.
Pike, D. A., Peterman, K. S., Mejeur, R. S., Green, M. D., Nelson, K. D. and J. H. Exum. 2008. Sampling techniques and methods for determining the spatial distribution of sand skinks (Plestiodon reynoldsi). Florida Scientist 71(2):93-104.
Data from central Florida was used to evaluate sampling techniques for the endemic sand skink with empirical examples of ways to determine the amount of habitat skinks occupy and their spatial distribution within a study site.
Wally, A. L., Menges, E. S. and C. W. Weekley. 2009. Comparison of three devices for estimating fire temperatures in ecological studies. Applied Vegetation Science 9(1):97-108.
Pyrometers outperformed calorimeters as a cheap method for describing relative temperature regimes that are a function of both temperatures and residence time in the Florida scrub and sandhill habitats.
Williamson, G. B. and D. R. Richardson. 1988. Bioassays for allelopathy: Measuring treatment responses with independent controls. J. Chem. Ecol. 14:181-187.
A response index was derived to compare bioassay treatment effects against those of controls. To illustrate the use of this index, source leachates from ten scrub species collected over a winter and summer season were compared against distilled water controls. Three target grasses and lettuce were placed in the leachates and distilled water to determine germination rates and radicle growth.