Food Limitation and Habitat Preference of Glaucomys sabrinus and Tamiasciurus hudsonicus

Ransome, Douglas B.; Sullivan, Thomas P.

doi:10.2307/1382905

Cited by 43 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…On this basis, northern flying squirrels may be limited in this landscape by a lack of connectivity between old-growth patches, which has implications for minimum viable population requirements, as individuals are isolated from each other. A caveat, however, to this conclusion is that flying squirrels may be facultative old-growth users (Ransome and Sullivan 1997;D. Ransome, personal communication).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape Connectivity as a Function of Scale and Organism Vagility in a Real Forested Landscape

D’Eon¹,

Glenn²,

Parfitt³

et al. 2002

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ABSTRACT. Landscape connectivity is considered a vital element of landscape structure because of its importance to population survival. The difficulty surrounding the notion of landscape connectivity is that it must be assessed at the scale of the interaction between an organism and the landscape. We present a unique method for measuring connectivity between patches as a function of organism vagility. We used this approach to assess connectivity between harvest, old-growth, and recent wildfire patches in a real forested landscape in southeast British Columbia. By varying a distance criterion, habitat patches were considered connected and formed habitat clusters if they fell within this critical distance. The amount of area and distance to edge within clusters at each critical distance formed the basis of connectivity between patches. We then assessed landscape connectivity relative to old-growth associates within our study area based on species' dispersal abilities. Connectivity was greatest between harvest patches, followed by old-growth, and then wildfire patches. In old-growth patches, we found significant trends between increased connectivity and increased total habitat amount, and between decreased connectivity and increased old-growth harvesting. Highly vagile old-growth associates, such as carnivorous birds, perceive this landscape as connected and are able to access all patches. Smaller, less vagile species, such as woodpeckers, chickadees, and nuthatches, may be affected by a lack of landscape connectivity at the scale of their interaction with old-growth patches. Of particular concern is the northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus), which we predict is limited in this landscape due to relatively weak dispersal abilities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape Connectivity as a Function of Scale and Organism Vagility in a Real Forested Landscape

D’Eon¹,

Glenn²,

Parfitt³

et al. 2002

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“…Populations of G. sabrinus appear limited by food abundance (Waters and Zabel 1995;Ransome and Sullivan 1997;Ransome 2001) but not by nest site availability (Waters and Zabel 1995;Colgan 1997;Ransome 2001). Since G. sabrinus primarily consumes hypogeous fungi during the snow-free period, the abundance of hypogeous fungi may be the limiting resource for them in areas where this food source dominates their diet.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term population dynamics of Glaucomys sabrinus and Tamiasciurus douglasii in commercially thinned and unthinned stands of coastal coniferous forest

Ransome¹,

Sullivan²

2002

Can. J. For. Res.

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Population dynamics of Glaucomys sabrinus (Shaw) and Tamiasciurus douglasii (Audubon and Bachman) were examined in commercially thinned and unthinned stands in British Columbia, Canada. We tested the hypothesis that commercial thinning would have negative short-term effects on the population dynamics of these species. Populations were monitored using mark-recapture techniques in two commercially thinned and two unthinned stands dominated by 60-to 70-year-old western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) and western redcedar (Thuja plicata Donn. ex D. Don). Populations were sampled intensively from . There were no differences among stands thinned and unthinned in movement, abundance, recruitment, survival, duration individuals remained in stands, percentage of males breeding, and mass of males for G. sabrinus or T. douglasii. Mean density of G. sabrinus in thinned and unthinned stands were 0.65 and 0.89 individuals/ha, respectively, at Chehalis and 0.09 and 0.51 individuals/ha, respectively, at MKRF. Mean density of T. douglasii in thinned and unthinned stands were 1.18 and 0.87 individuals/ha, respectively, at Chehalis and 1.08 and 1.00 individuals/ha, respectively, at MKRF. We concluded that commercial thinning had no negative short-term effects on the population dynamics of these species. Résumé : La dynamique des populations de Glaucomys sabrinus (Shaw) et de Tamiasciurus douglasii (Audubon et Bachman) a été examinée dans des peuplements éclaircis commercialement et des peuplements non éclaircis enColombie-Britannique, au Canada. Nous avons testé l'hypothèse voulant que l'éclaircie commerciale ait des effets négatifs à court terme sur la dynamique des populations de ces espèces. Les populations ont été suivies par la technique de marquage et recapture dans deux peuplements éclaircis commercialement et deux peuplements non éclaircis dominés par des pruches de l'Ouest (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) et des thuyas géants (Thuja plicata Donn. ex D. Don) âgés de 60-70 ans. Les populations ont été échantillonnées intensivement du mois d'

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“…In some studies G. sabrinus were more abundant in old-growth forests (Volts 1986;Carey 1989Carey , 1991Carey et al 1992Carey et al , 1999Witt 1992;Ransome and Sullivan 1997) than in second-growth forests indicating that these latter forests were suboptimal habitat (Volts 1986;Carey 1989;Witt 1992). Others have found no difference in abundance of G. sabrinus between old-growth and secondgrowth forests (Anthony et al 1987;Aubry et al 1991;Corn and Bury 1991;Gillbert and Allwine 1991;Rosenberg and Anthony 1992;Waters and Zabel 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Population dynamics of Glaucomys sabrinus and Tamiasciurus douglasii in old-growth and second-growth stands of coastal coniferous forest

Ransome¹,

Sullivan²

2003

Can. J. For. Res.

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Habitat preferences and population dynamics of northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus Shaw) and Douglas squirrels (Tamiasciurus douglasii Audubon and Bachman) were examined in old-growth and mature secondgrowth stands in British Columbia, Canada. Using mark-recapture techniques to estimate population dynamics, we tested the hypothesis that old-growth stands provided higher-quality habitat than second-growth stands for these species. Populations were monitored in two old-growth and two mature second-growth stands from August 1995 to May 1999. We were unable to detect major differences in movement, density, recruitment, mass of males, survival, percentage of the population breeding, and the duration that individuals remained on the study plots between stand types for G. sabrinus. Similarly, with the exception of recruitment, we were unable to detect major differences in these parameters between stand types for T. douglasii. Recruitment of T. douglasii was higher in second-growth than in old-growth stands. Old-growth stands were not higher-quality habitat than second-growth stands for either species for the period of enquiry and the parameters we measured. We also presented evidence of late fall -early winter breeding for G. sabrinus, as well as seasonal fluctuations in mass and trappability, larger movement by males than females, and the age of some squirrels exceeding 3.5 years.Résumé : Les préférences d'habitat et la dynamique des populations du grand polatouche (Glaucomys sabrinus Shaw) et de l'écureuil de Douglas (Tamiasciurus douglasii Audubon et Bachman) ont été examinées dans des vieux peuplements intacts et des peuplements matures de seconde venue en Colombie-Britannique, au Canada. En utilisant la technique de marquage et de recapture pour l'estimation de la dynamique des populations, nous avons testé l'hypothèse que les vieux peuplements constituaient pour ces espèces un habitat de meilleure qualité que les peuplements de seconde venue. Les populations ont été suivies dans deux vieux peuplements et deux peuplements de seconde venue du mois d'août 1995 au mois de mai 1999. Nous avons été incapables de détecter des différences majeures entre les vieux peuplements et ceux de seconde venue en ce qui a trait au mouvement, à la densité, au recrutement, à la masse des mâles, à la survie, au pourcentage de reproducteurs dans la population ou à la durée de séjour dans les parcelles étudiées pour les individus de G. sabrinus. De même pour T. douglasii, à l'exception du recrutement, nous avons été incapables de détecter des différences majeures entre les peuplements pour ces paramètres. Le recrutement de T. douglasii était plus élevé dans les peuplements de seconde venue que dans les vieux peuplements. Ces derniers n'étaient pas un habitat de meilleure qualité que les peuplements de seconde venue pour l'une ou l'autre des espèces durant la période d'étude et selon les paramètres mesurés. Nos résultats comportent également des indices de nidification de fin d'automne et début d'hiver pour G. sabrinus, de fluct...

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Food Limitation and Habitat Preference of Glaucomys sabrinus and Tamiasciurus hudsonicus

Cited by 43 publications

References 25 publications

Landscape Connectivity as a Function of Scale and Organism Vagility in a Real Forested Landscape

Landscape Connectivity as a Function of Scale and Organism Vagility in a Real Forested Landscape

Short-term population dynamics of Glaucomys sabrinus and Tamiasciurus douglasii in commercially thinned and unthinned stands of coastal coniferous forest

Population dynamics of Glaucomys sabrinus and Tamiasciurus douglasii in old-growth and second-growth stands of coastal coniferous forest

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