Part 3

I lived in Mesa Verde National Park for 28 months in the period July 1961 to September 1964, while working as Biologist for the Wetherill Mesa Archeological Project, and the study here reported on is one of the faunal studies that I undertook.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study could not have been completed without the assistance and encouragement of numerous persons. I am grateful to Dr. Olwen Williams, of the University of Colorado, for suggesting this study and helping me plan the early phases of it.

Mr. Chester A. Thomas, formerly Superintendent, and Mrs. Jean Pinkley, formerly Chief of Interpretation at Mesa Verde National Park, permitted me to use the park's facilities for research, issued collecting permits, and in 1965 appointed me as a research collaborator in order that I might complete my studies.

Dr. H. Douglas Osborne, California State College, Long Beach, formerly Supervisory Archeologist of the Wetherill Mesa Project, took an active interest in my research and provided supplies, transportation and laboratory and field assistance under the auspices of the Wetherill Project. His assistance and encouragement are gratefully acknowledged.

Mrs. Marilyn A. Colyer of Mancos, Colorado, ably assisted in analyzing vegetation in the trapping grid; Mr. Robert R. Patterson, the University of Kansas, assisted me in the field in October of 1963 and in August of 1965. Mr. James A. Erdman, United States Geological Survey, Denver, formerly Botanist for the Wetherill Mesa Project, and Dr. Stanley L. Welsh, Brigham Young University, identified plants for me in the field, and checked my identifications of herbarium specimens. I owe my knowledge of the flora in the park to my association with these two capable botanists.

I am grateful to the following persons for identification of invertebrates: D. Eldon Beck, fleas and ticks; Paul Winston, mites; V. Eugene Nelson, mites; William Wrenn, mites; Wayne W. Moss, mites; William B. Nutting, mites (Desmodex); Marilyn A. Colyer, insects; John E. Ubelaker, endoparasites; Veryl F. Keen, botflies. George A. King, Architect, of Durango, Colorado, prepared the original map for Figure 1.

Mr. Harold Shepherd of Mancos, Colorado, Senior Game Biologist, Colorado Department of Fish, Game and Parks, obtained permission for me to use the department's trapping grid near Far View Ruins, and provided me with preserved specimens of mice.

Mr. Fred E. Mang Jr., Photographer, National Park Service, processed large numbers of photomicrographs of plant epidermis. Dr. Kenneth B. Armitage, The University of Kansas, offered valuable suggestions for the study of water consumption in the two species of Peromyscus, and permitted me to use facilities of the Zoological Research Laboratories at The University of Kansas. Dr. Richard F. Johnston, The University of Kansas, permitted me to house mice in his controlled-temperature room at the Zoological Research Laboratories. I am grateful to all of the above mentioned persons for their aid.

I acknowledge with gratitude the guidance, encouragement, and critical assistance of Professor E. Raymond Hall throughout the course of the study and preparation of the manuscript. I also extend my sincere thanks to Professors Henry S. Fitch, Robert W. Baxter, and William A. Clemens for their helpful suggestions and assistance.

To my wife, Virginia, I am grateful for encouragement and assistance with many time-consuming tasks connected with field work and preparation of the manuscript.

Travel funds provided by the Kansas Academy of Science permitted me to work in the park in August, 1965. The Wetherill Mesa Project was an interdisciplinary program of the National Park Service to which the National Geographic Society contributed generously. I am indebted to the Society for a major share of the support that resulted in this report. This is contribution No. 44 of the Wetherill Mesa Project.

DESCRIPTIONS OF MAJOR TRAPPING LOCALITIES

Trapping was begun in September of 1961 in order to analyze the composition of rodent populations within the park. I used the method of trapping employed by Calhoun (1948) in making the Census of North American Small Mammals (N. A. C. S. M.). It consisted of two lines of traps, each 1,000 feet long having 20 trapping stations that were 50 feet apart. The lines were either parallel at a distance of 400 feet from each other, or were joined to form a line 2,000 feet long. Three snap traps were placed within a five-foot radius of each station, and were set for three consecutive nights. More than a dozen areas were selected for extensive trapping (Fig. 1). Some of these were retrapped in consecutive years in order to measure changes in populations.

One circular trapline of 159.5 feet radius was established in November 1961, and was tended for 30 consecutive days to observe the effect of removing the more dominant species (Calhoun, 1959).

Other mouse traps and rat traps were set in suitable places on talus slopes, rocky cliffs, and in cliff dwellings. Most of these traps were operated for three consecutive nights.

In order to test hypotheses concerning habitat preferences of each of the species of Peromyscus, several previously untrapped areas that appeared to be ideal habitat for one species, but not for the other, were selected for sampling. In the summers of 1963 and 1964 snap traps were set along an arbitrary line through each of these areas. Traps were placed in pairs; each pair was 20 feet from the adjacent pairs.

A mixture of equal parts of peanut butter, bacon grease, raisins, roman meal and rolled oats was used as bait. Rolled oats or coarsely ground scratch feed was used in areas where insects removed the mixture from the traps.

Rodents trapped by me were variously prepared as study skins with skulls, as flat skins with skulls, as skeletons, as skulls only, or as alcoholics. Representative specimens were deposited in The University of Kansas Museum of Natural History. In the course of my study, traps were set in the following areas:

Morfield Ridge

In July 1959 a fire destroyed more than 2,000 acres of pinyon-juniper forest (Pinus edulis and Juniperus osteosperma) in the eastern part of the park. The burned area extends from Morfield Canyon to Waters Canyon, encompassing several canyons, Whites Mesa, and a ridge between Morfield Canyon and Waters Canyon that is known locally as Morfield Ridge (Fig. 1). Beginning on September 4, 1961, three pairs of traplines were run on this ridge at elevations of 7,300 to 7,600 feet.

Vegetation in the trapping area consisted of dense growths of grasses and herbaceous plants, which had covered the ground with seeds. In this and in the following accounts, the generic and specific names of plants are those used by Welsh and Erdman (1964). The following plants were identified from the trapping area on Morfield Ridge:

Lithospermum ruderale Chenopodium pratericola Achillea millefolium Artemisia tridentata Aster bigelovii Chrysothamnus depressus Chrysothamnus nauseosus Helianthus annuus Helianthella sp. Lactuca sp. Lepidium montanum Quercus gambelii Agropyron smithii Bromus inermis Bromus japonicus Oryzopsis hymenoides Calochortus nuttallii Linum perenne Sphaeralcea coccinea Polygonum sawatchense Solidago petradoria Wyethia arizonica Nicotiana attenuata Fendlera rupicola Penstemon linarioides

Only Peromyscus maniculatus, Perognathus apache and Reithrodontomys megalotis were taken in this area (Table 1). Many birds inhabit this area, including hawks, ravens, towhees, jays, juncos, woodpeckers, doves, sparrows and titmice. Rabbits, badgers and mule deer also live in the area. Only two reptiles, a horned lizard and a collared lizard, were seen.

South of Far View Ruins

Two parallel trap lines were established on October 4, 1961, in the area immediately south of Far View Ruins (Fig. 1). In altitude, latitude and geographical configuration the area is similar to that trapped in the Morfield burn, but the Chapin Mesa site had not been burned.

Canopy vegetation is pinyon-juniper forest. A dense understory was made up of Amelanchier utahensis (serviceberry), Cercocarpos montanus (mountain mahogany), Purshia tridentata (bitterbrush), and Quercus gambelii (Gambel oak). The ground cover consisted of small clumps of Poa fendleriana (muttongrass), and Koeleria cristata (Junegrass), intermingled with growths of one or more of the following:

Artemisia nova Solidago petradoria Sitanion hystrix Astragalus scopulorum Lupinus caudatus Eriogonum alatum Penstemon linarioides Eriogonum racemosum Eriogonum umbellatum Polygonum sawatchense Amelanchier utahensis Purshia tridentata Comandra umbellata