Bats and Rats of Oak Lake Field Station

Pedersen, S.

This ill-fated project had the primary objective to document which mammalian taxa were present at the Oak Lake Field Station (SDSU). Although several taxa have been observed in the near vicinity of the station, only 28 have been documented on the premises by three diverse survey efforts (Kraft, 1996; Pedersen, 2000; Larson, 2006).  At the present time the OLFS inventory includes one marsupial, three insectivores, and least one (possibly two) species of bat. Two lagomorphs and 13 species of rodent are on the station, with new interesting records of Neotoma in 1996 and Perognathus in 2006. The sighting of a single river otter in 1996 (Lutra) brought the number of carnivores on site to seven species.  White tail dear are plentiful and are the only non-livestock artiodactyls in the area. The rodent taxa are reasonably well distributed as one might expect with dry-woodlot associate species in the upper, dry areas of the station property and marshy/wet-lands associated species were found along the lake shore. (Presentation pdf)