I'm studying the relationship between food availability and reproduction in kangaroo rats (k-rats). K-rats are granivorous small mammals adapted to arid environments that have seasonal availability of food resources. K?rat population fluctuations have been correlated with rainfall, which is a good indicator of seed production. It has been inferred that the increase in food availability results in an increase in reproduction in k?rats. I have begun to test this hypothesis by supplementing populations of k?rats with commercial seed and comparing the reproductive response to control populations.