Predominant Use of Windthrows by Nesting Eastern Woodrats (Neotoma Floridana) in the South Carolina Coastal Plain (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Use of small mammal sign (e.g., nests, burrows, runways, feces) as an indicator of animal presence or to estimate population density is often cost--and time-effective, but may also be unreliable, resulting in biased estimates (Powell et al., 1994; Van Horne et al., 1997). Woodrats of the genus Neotoma are widely known for their construction of conspicuous houses, made of sticks or other available materials (Wiley, 1980; Hall, 1981). Houses are so widely accepted as an indicator of woodrat presence that house counts have been used to estimate population densities of Neotoma species in the western US (Vogl, 1967; Hammer and Maser, 1973; Sakai and Noon, 1993) and population trends in the endangered Key Largo woodrat (N. floridana smalli; McCleery et al., 2006). However, a few authors caution that house density and other sign may be unreliable for estimating woodrat density (Humphrey, 1988; Fargo and Laudenslayer, 1999). We present evidence for a major revision in our understanding of eastern woodrat (N. floridana) nesting behavior in the US southeastern coastal plain, and show that house counts may be completely unreliable. Eastern woodrats occur throughout the southeastern and south central US (Hall, 1981; Whitaker and Hamilton, 1998). They are habitat generalists, inhabiting rocky bluffs and outcrops, upland woods, swamps and hammocks, dry scrub pine, dense riparian vegetation, marshes, grasslands and abandoned buildings and refuse piles (Goertz, 1970; Wiley, 1980; Webster et al., 1985; Whitaker and Hamilton, 1998). Neotoma floridana is listed as endangered, threatened or species of concern in five states (IL, NC, SC, TN, FL), although recent surveys have not been conducted in states where populations are presumably stable (Monty and Feldhamer, 2002). Edwards and Bradley (2001) recognize two distinct clades of N. floridana: southern (subspecies from MS and SC) and western (subspecies from MO, OK and TX).