William K. Michener

Fox squirrels (Sciurus niger) are an important species in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forests. We estimated fox squirrel density within 6 minimally disturbed longleaf pine strands, examined association between fox and gray squirrels (S. carolinensis), and measured habitat variables at fox and gray squirrel capture sites. Fox squirrel density estimates ranged from 12-19 squirrels/km2 among study areas. Fox squirrel capture sites had higher pine basal area, higher total basal area, higher herbaceous groundcover, and lower woody groundcover than other sites. Gray squirrel capture sites...

Gonadal condition of hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) planted at 2 tidal locations and at 3 population densities were evaluated in relation to age, size, sex, season, and culture condition. Changes in gonadal-somatic indices (GSI) reflected seasonal differences in gonadal development. Similar decreases in GSI were observed during the spring (May-Jun) and fall (Sep-Oct) spawning peaks. GSI varied significantly (P < 0.0001) with clam size and age. Larger clams had proportionally more gonadal tissue than smaller clams of the same age. Similarly, older clams had larger GSI than younger...

Age, growth, and sex ratio were determined from 484 yellow-phase American eels (Anguilla rostrata) collected from brackish waters (16.4 g/liter; mean salinity) in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Eels averaged 4.4 years, 437.6 mm total length, and 189.9 g live wet weight. Length-weight relationship was: log W = -5.7156 + 3.0067 log L. Length and weight increases were greatest in the third and fifth year of age, respectively. The population consisted of 85.5% mature females, 7.9% advanced females, and 6.6% males. Mature and advanced females averaged 1.6 and 3.1 years older than males (2.7...