Data from: A mast-seeding desert shrub regulates population dynamics and behavior of its heteromyid dispersers

Caching Trials, Willow FlatsEach record represents a single cache made by a kangaroo rat that had collected seeds at a bait tray in the field. Kangaroo rats were allowed to visit the tray multiple times within a trial. Fluorescent powder on the seeds aided the observer in locating the caches. Datum: WGS84Rodent Trapping, Salt ValleyEach record is a capture of a small mammal at Salt Valley, Arches National Park, Grand Co., Utah. Trapping was conducted in 15 sessions of 2 or 3 nights each.Rodent Trapping, Willow FlatsEach record is a capture of a small mammal at Willow Flats, Arches National Park, Grand Co., Utah. Trapping was conducted in 11 sessions of 2 or 3 nights each.Telemetry, Salt ValleyLocation records for radiocollared Ord's kangaroo rats in Salt Valley, Arches National Park, Grand Co., Utah.Telemetry, Willow FlatsLocation records for radiocollared Ord's kangaroo rats at Willow Flats, Arches National Park, Grand Co., Utah. Because sample sizes were fairly small, these data were combined with trapping data from the same time period and geographic area to produce utilization distributions for kangaroo rats. Trapping data were drawn from the companion data set "Rodent Trapping, Willow Flats.csv".Randomization procedure for niche overlapTo investigate possible competition between D. ordii and P. flavescens at Salt Valley, we calculated the observed niche overlap for all species–time period combinations. The 163 trap stations were considered the common resource, and we used the Czechanowski index (Feinsinger et al. 1981) as an estimate of niche overlap: 1.0 – 0.5 Ʃ │pi – ri│ where pi and ri represent the proportions of captures at trap station i for D. ordii and P. flavescens, respectively. We then used a randomization procedure with 1000 trials to generate a distribution of niche overlap matrices to which the observed values could be compared (True BASIC program, S. Jenkins). The procedure generated random numbers of captures at each trapping station for each species-time period combination while keeping fixed the values of (1) the total number of captures at each station over all species-period combinations and (2) the total number of captures for each species-period combination over all stations. We could then answer the question of whether there was more or less between-species niche overlap observed within time periods (1997, 1998, and 1999-2001) than expected by chance by examining the probability of the occurrence of the observed niche overlap values relative to the distribution of values generated by the randomization procedure.Randomization.csvFood Preference TrialsUsable trials in a cafeteria-style design to determine a heirarchy of preference for Ord's kangaroo rats (Dipodomys ordii) selecting to eat 4 seeds which occur at high frequencies in the plant community at Arches National Park, Grand Co., Utah: Coleogyne ramosissima, Ephedra viridis, Cowania mexicana, Wyethia scabra. Compositional analysis was used to determine preference heirarchy.Food Preference.csvHome Range Habitat Areas, Salt ValleyInputs for a test of the resource abundance hypothesis. We used the home range data for the mast year (1997) and the first post-mast year (1998) in separate analyses to examine the correlation between home range area and SMPA (seed mass per unit area). We also examined the effect of year on home range size and SMPA using ANOVA. Data were collected at Arches National Park, Grand Co., Utah.

威洛平原贮食试验（Caching Trials）
每条记录对应一只在野外诱饵托盘采集种子的更格卢鼠（kangaroo rat）所完成的单次贮食行为。试验期间允许更格卢鼠多次造访该诱饵托盘。种子上的荧光粉可协助观测者定位贮食点。基准坐标系：WGS84

盐谷啮齿动物诱捕（Rodent Trapping）
每条记录对应在犹他州格兰德县拱门国家公园盐谷捕获的一只小型哺乳动物。诱捕工作共开展15轮，每轮持续2至3晚。

威洛平原啮齿动物诱捕（Rodent Trapping）
每条记录对应在犹他州格兰德县拱门国家公园威洛平原捕获的一只小型哺乳动物。诱捕工作共开展11轮，每轮持续2至3晚。

盐谷无线电遥测（Telemetry）
犹他州格兰德县拱门国家公园盐谷内佩戴无线电项圈的奥氏更格卢鼠（Ord's kangaroo rats）的位置记录。

威洛平原无线电遥测（Telemetry）
犹他州格兰德县拱门国家公园威洛平原内佩戴无线电项圈的奥氏更格卢鼠的位置记录。由于样本量相对较小，本数据集与相同时空范围的诱捕数据合并，以生成更格卢鼠的空间利用分布。所用诱捕数据来自配套数据集"Rodent Trapping, Willow Flats.csv"。

生态位重叠随机化检验流程（Randomization procedure for niche overlap）
为探究盐谷内奥氏更格卢鼠（Dipodomys ordii, D. ordii）与淡色囊鼠（Perognathus flavescens, P. flavescens）之间可能存在的种间竞争，我们计算了所有物种类群-时间段组合的观测生态位重叠值。研究将163个诱捕站视为共享资源，并采用蔡查诺夫斯基指数（Czechanowski index，Feinsinger等，1981）作为生态位重叠的估算指标，公式为：1.0 – 0.5 Σ│p_i – r_i│，其中p_i与r_i分别代表奥氏更格卢鼠与淡色囊鼠在第i个诱捕站的捕获占比。随后我们采用包含1000次重复的随机化流程，生成生态位重叠矩阵的随机分布，用于与观测值进行比对（程序为S. Jenkins编写的True BASIC程序）。该随机化流程在保留以下固定条件的前提下，为每个物种类群-时间段组合生成各诱捕站的随机捕获数：(1) 所有物种类群-时间段组合下，单个诱捕站的总捕获数；(2) 所有诱捕站下，单个物种类群-时间段组合的总捕获数。随后我们可通过对比观测生态位重叠值与随机化流程生成的数值分布的出现概率，回答以下问题：在1997、1998及1999-2001这些时间段内，观测到的种间生态位重叠程度是否显著高于或低于随机预期水平。
随机化程序数据集（Randomization.csv）

食物偏好试验（Food Preference Trials）
本数据集采用自助餐厅式实验设计，用于确定奥氏更格卢鼠（Dipodomys ordii）对4种常见于犹他州格兰德县拱门国家公园植物群落的种子的偏好层级，这4种种子分别为：灌木黑果木（Coleogyne ramosissima）、绿麻黄（Ephedra viridis）、墨西哥苦木（Cowania mexicana）、狭叶松香草（Wyethia scabra）。研究采用组成分析法确定其偏好层级。
食物偏好数据集（Food Preference.csv）

盐谷家域生境面积（Home Range Habitat Areas, Salt Valley）
用于检验资源丰度假说的输入数据。我们分别以大年（1997年）与大年之后的第一年（1998年）的家域数据开展分析，以探究家域面积与单位面积种子质量（SMPA, seed mass per unit area）之间的相关性。同时我们采用方差分析（ANOVA）检验年份对家域面积与单位面积种子质量的影响。数据采集于犹他州格兰德县拱门国家公园。