Spatial and Habitat Requirements of Gray Foxes in Florida
Progulske DR and Labisky RF. 1997. Spatial and Habitat Requirements of Gray Foxes in Florida. Journal of Wildlife Research. 2(1):15-20
Spatial and habitat requirements of gray foxes ( Urocvon cinereoargellleus) were determined by radio telemetry on a 150 km² pineland-mixed hardwood tract in northern Florida during 1980-1981. Home ranges of 5 gray foxes. derived from 865 radio fixes between December 1980 and December i981. averaged 582±192 SEha (harmonic mean analysis). Daily movements of foxes differed among seasons (p 0.05). Gray foxes were sedentary during the day, and active at night. Gender ignored, the distance between successive rest areas averaged 426± 86 SE m: the daily foraging radius. 779± 81 m: and total distance traveled daily, 3,179± 308m. Simultaneous estimation procedures revealed that foxes preferred dense habitats, such as slash pine (Pinus e/liouii) flatwoods, for resting during the day, and open habitats, such as meadows and longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)-turkey oak (Quercus lael'is) sandhills, for foraging at night. Foxes avoided bottomland hardwood and live oak (Quercus l'irginiana) hammock habitats. Habitat management for gray foxes should focus on providing open versus dense understory habitat at a ratio of ≥ 2:1.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Progulske, Donald; Labisky, Ronald
- Units
- SFCN
- Keywords
- Florida, Habitat Use, Home Range, Radio Telemetry, Welaka Study Area