The picture to the right is an aerial photograph of Fermi
National Accelerator Laboratory illustrating the heterogeneous
landscape. Seven different habitats were sampled for two years
to compare prey availability across the landscape. A log-linear
analysis was then used to relate spatio-temporal changes in prey
to the diets and activity patterns of the predators. The results
showed that the numerically common predators, red fox, coyote,
Red-tailed Hawk, and Great Horned Owl, feed heavily on rabbits
and voles. Squirrels and field mice suffer comparatively low
predation rates. We then examined how predation affects the
biology of small prairie mammals, such as mice and voles, by
excluding the predators. There were four plots, each 1.5 acres
in area, that had the coyotes and red foxes fenced out. Hawks
and owls were excluded by suspending netting above the plots.
Small mammals on the four exclusion plots and four control plots
were trapped at monthly intervals to monitor long-term
demographic patterns. The two m