Do predators modify context-dependent dispersal of red squirrels?

Selonen, Vesa; Fey, Karen; Hämäläinen, Suvi; Turkia, Tytti; Korpimäki, Erkki

doi:10.1007/s00265-018-2554-y

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…However, if the preference for built environment would be dependent on only the edge effect on cone production, we should have noticed a preference also for forest edges, which was not the case in this study. Predator abundance can also influence on settlement decisions of dispersing individuals, but a previous study shows that for red squirrel, the proximity of goshawk nest or mammalian predator odor does not affect dispersal behavior in our study population (Selonen et al 2018b). Decision-making process during natal dispersal of red squirrel seems, however, to be driven mainly by other factors than landscape characteristics.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 66%

Search strategies in rural and urban environment during natal dispersal of the red squirrel

Hämäläinen

Fey

Selonen

2020

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Decisions made during natal dispersal highly influence the future fitness of the animal. The selection of future home range affects, for example, food supply and mating success. In order to select between potential sites, dispersing individuals may use different search strategies, and for example, aim to compare quality of different sites by revisiting them. Alternatively, dispersers visit new sites without comparison until a suitable site is located. By using radio telemetry, we studied search strategies during natal dispersal in both urban and rural environments. We examined what kind of sites juvenile red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) choose as their home range from all visited sites and whether they display revisit behavior during natal dispersal. We found that most of the dispersing individuals perform revisits while searching for the settlement site. In the rural study area, there were also individuals (mostly long-distance dispersers) that did not perform revisits and settled in the last visited area. The landscape characteristics did not explain the amount of revisits individuals made, but the amount of revisits declined with site’s distance to natal nest and dispersal distance of individuals. The effect of landscape characteristics on settlement decision was small, but surprisingly, juvenile red squirrels in the rural area settled in sites with more built area compared with sites only visited. However, the decision-making of red squirrels during natal dispersal seems to be driven mainly by other factors (potentially food availability and conspecific density) than landscape characteristics. We conclude that revisiting behavior is linked to dispersal strategy of red squirrels and can differ between the sexes and habitats of the species. Significance statement Animals often choose their habitat from among multiple alternative habitats and potential settlement sites, and the decisions made during dispersal highly influence the future fitness of the animal. We examined what kind of areas juvenile red squirrels choose as their home range in both urban and rural environments and whether they display revisit behavior when selecting their home range from many alternatives. We found that search strategies during natal dispersal can vary between individuals and habitats. Surprisingly, juvenile red squirrels in the rural area settled in sites with more built area compared with the sites only visited. However, for red squirrel, decisions made by juveniles during the search of a home range are mainly influenced by other factors than landscape composition.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 66%

Search strategies in rural and urban environment during natal dispersal of the red squirrel

Hämäläinen

Fey

Selonen

2020

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…Furthermore, the changes of response to predators in the urban squirrels may also be related to our results other than the effect of predator release. Previous research has shown that the presence of predators has no effects on movements of red squirrels, suggesting that they are unresponsive to indication of predator presence (Selonen, Fey, Hämäläinen, Turkia, & Korpimäki, ). Such behavioral changes are closely related with FCM levels (Voellmy et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

No evidence of physiological stress in an urban animal: Comparison of fecal cortisol metabolites between urban and rural Eurasian red squirrels

Shimamoto

Uchida

Koizumi

et al. 2019

Ecological Research

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Over the last few decades, urban environments have been regarded as alternative habitats for wildlife. Given the continuous anthropogenic disturbance, however, it remains largely unknown whether urban environments are truly beneficial to some animals or whether the animals are merely just surviving.Glucocorticoids, which play an important role in coping with environmental challenges, are often measured as primary biomarkers of physiological stress.Chronic secretions of these hormones can have deleterious effects on animal health. Some urban stressors are constantly present and may increase the risk of chronic stress. In this study, we compared fecal cortisol metabolite (FCM) levels to evaluate stress levels between an urban and rural population of Eurasian red squirrels Sciurus vulgaris. We hypothesized that if squirrels suffer from greater stress in urban environments, their FCM levels would be significantly higher than that of rural squirrels. Our results showed that FCM levels were not significantly different between the urban and rural squirrel populations, and urban squirrels did not weigh less than rural squirrels. We conclude that the urban squirrels were not subjected to greater stress than their rural counterparts. Urban environments may be preferable for red squirrels, possibly because of release from predators and increased food availability through artificial feeding. K E Y W O R D SEurasian red squirrel, fecal cortisol metabolites, hormone, physiological stress, urbanization

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“…As mentioned above, field studies often lead to difficulties in disentangling effects on survival from effects on dispersal and in properly isolating the effect of a single species. For example, the abundances of a prey species and its different predator species are often correlated, leading to difficulties in isolating the effect of each predator species without intensive monitoring of all species at play [86]. The same reasoning can be made for other interacting species like resources for consumers, as in flying squirrels ( Sciurus vulgaris ), which depend on multiple resources (spruce, birch and alder catkin) that likely covary and can alternatively appear as the main driver of fitness [87,88], potentially hampering the estimate of their respective effects on dispersal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species interactions affect dispersal: a meta-analysis

Bestion,

Legrand,

Baines

et al. 2024

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Context-dependent dispersal allows organisms to seek and settle in habitats improving their fitness. Despite the importance of species interactions in determining fitness, a quantitative synthesis of how they affect dispersal is lacking. We present a meta-analysis asking (i) whether the interaction experienced and/or perceived by a focal species (detrimental interaction with predators, competitors, parasites or beneficial interaction with resources, hosts, mutualists) affects its dispersal; and (ii) how the species' ecological and biological background affects the direction and strength of this interaction-dependent dispersal. After a systematic search focusing on actively dispersing species, we extracted 397 effect sizes from 118 empirical studies encompassing 221 species pairs; arthropods were best represented, followed by vertebrates, protists and others. Detrimental species interactions increased the focal species’ dispersal (adjusted effect: 0.33 [0.06, 0.60]), while beneficial interactions decreased it (−0.55 [−0.92, −0.17]). The effect depended on the dispersal phase, with detrimental interactors having opposite impacts on emigration and transience. Interaction-dependent dispersal was negatively related to species’ interaction strength, and depended on the global community composition, with cues of presence having stronger effects than the presence of the interactor and the ecological complexity of the community. Our work demonstrates the importance of interspecific interactions on dispersal plasticity, with consequences for metacommunity dynamics. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Diversity-dependence of dispersal: interspecific interactions determine spatial dynamics’.

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Do predators modify context-dependent dispersal of red squirrels?

Cited by 3 publications

References 66 publications

Search strategies in rural and urban environment during natal dispersal of the red squirrel

Search strategies in rural and urban environment during natal dispersal of the red squirrel

No evidence of physiological stress in an urban animal: Comparison of fecal cortisol metabolites between urban and rural Eurasian red squirrels

Species interactions affect dispersal: a meta-analysis

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