High Spring Mortality of Adult Richardson’s Ground Squirrels, &lt;em&gt;Urocitellus richardsonii&lt;/em&gt;, Associated with a Severe Rainstorm in Southwestern Saskatchewan

Proulx, Gilbert

doi:10.22621/cfn.v126i2.1331

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Frequent rainfall or snow may have reduced forage quality and time spent above ground, in addition to enhance climate‐induced stress, as witnessed in Beever et al (2010). Heavy rainfall could also lead to occasional mortality via hypothermia or to water‐saturated soils leading to an increased cost for individuals to maintain their burrow systems (Ebensperger and Bozinovic 2000, Proulx 2012). Our results suggest that marmots could be as vulnerable to frequent precipitation as to drought episodes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping with seasonality: dynamics of adult body mass and survival in an alpine hibernator

Carrier

Hamel

Garel³

et al. 2022

Oikos

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Alpine mammals are highly vulnerable to current and projected climate change because they are confined to a certain elevation range. Physiological and behavioural adaptations in burrowing species, such as finding shelter in burrows when the summer conditions are unfavorable and hibernating in winter during the stressful period of resource shortage, could partly buffer the negative impacts of these forecasted changes. We studied the links between environmental factors and annual variations in adult mass and survival over 14 years in hoary marmots. We hypothesized that annual variation in seasonal environmental factors determines individual mass and survival through direct effects on food quality and availability, expecting greater survival when marmots reach higher mass before hibernation. We found that harsh winters decreased mass at emergence from hibernation by 47% compared with mild winters. Nonetheless, adult marmots had a greater mass gain in summers following harsh winters and reached a similar mass at the end of the summer compared with summers following mild winters. This suggests individuals can adopt a resource allocation strategy that allows maximizing summer mass gain to survive hibernation. Earlier springs also increased summer mass gain by 15 g day−1, and tended to increase apparent adult survival by 23%, compared with late springs. While these findings suggest a warming climate could have positive effects on summer mass gain and survival, survival also tended to decrease by 24% in summers with more precipitation. This suggests the forecasted changes in precipitation extremes could also trigger considerable negative effects on the demography of burrowing species in the long term. Our study shows that, although burrowing and hibernating behaviours could buffer responses to environmental changes, these behaviours are not an indefectible shield against climate change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping with seasonality: dynamics of adult body mass and survival in an alpine hibernator

Carrier

Hamel

Garel³

et al. 2022

Oikos

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“…Burrows of many different species in the prairies can become flooded in years with above-average precipitation leading to drowning of individuals (Fisher et al 2015). For example, ground squirrel mortality was about 20% higher in years when spring flooding occurred compared with drought years (Proulx 2012), thereby reducing or eliminating local populations. Proulx (2012) suggested that ground squirrels inhabiting wet or partially flooded burrows may have died from drowning or hypothermia and stress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, ground squirrel mortality was about 20% higher in years when spring flooding occurred compared with drought years (Proulx 2012), thereby reducing or eliminating local populations. Proulx (2012) suggested that ground squirrels inhabiting wet or partially flooded burrows may have died from drowning or hypothermia and stress. There exists a potential for significant yearly variation in the occurrence of this species in prairie Canada, and researchers and managers need to account for this variation when modelling habitat associations and managing this species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Richardson’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus richardsonii) are associated primarily with intermediate levels of grassland, clay loam soils, and human development in Canadian mixed-grass prairies

et al. 2021

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Richardson’s ground squirrel (Urocitellus richardsonii, Sabine 1822) is a widespread burrowing mammal on the Northern Great Plains. This species is a prominent prey item for a variety of predators, and its burrows provide important habitat for other wildlife; however, Richardson’s ground squirrel is also considered an economically damaging agricultural pest. Despite the ecological importance of Richardson’s ground squirrels and their status as pests, there are gaps in our knowledge about large-scale habitat associations for this species. In 2011 and 2012, we conducted 1840 road-side surveys in a 130,000-km2 area of southern Saskatchewan, Canada to understand which habitat features are associated with Richardson’s ground squirrel occurrence. Ground squirrels were observed on 8% of the surveys. Probability of ground squirrel occurrence was highest in areas with moderate amounts of grassland (approximately 30%), areas that were developed by humans (>30%), and had a high proportion of clay loam soils, presumably for burrowing. Our study highlights the importance of heterogeneous landscapes and that areas disturbed by humans may provide suitable vegetation structure for ground squirrels. This information can help to identify important habitat for species that rely on Richardson’s ground squirrels and identify areas where Richardson’s ground squirrels could come into conflict with agriculture.

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High Spring Mortality of Adult Richardson’s Ground Squirrels, <em>Urocitellus richardsonii</em>, Associated with a Severe Rainstorm in Southwestern Saskatchewan

Cited by 2 publications

References 14 publications

Coping with seasonality: dynamics of adult body mass and survival in an alpine hibernator

Coping with seasonality: dynamics of adult body mass and survival in an alpine hibernator

Richardson’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus richardsonii) are associated primarily with intermediate levels of grassland, clay loam soils, and human development in Canadian mixed-grass prairies

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