NEOSQUIRREL: a data set of ecological knowledge on Neotropical squirrels

Abstract

The squirrels (Sciuridae), with 292 species, make up the second most diverse family of rodents. Squirrels play important roles as seed and spore dispersers and seed predators in all regions where they occur. In Neotropical regions, around 28 species of squirrel are recognised. However, our knowledge of the ecology of the Neotropical Sciuridae is severely incomplete, lacking in the most basic ecological information for most species. We reviewed the literature in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, for all squirrel species in the Neotropical biogeographic region, summarising ecological interactions between squirrels and the local biota, population density records, the number of publications, and the distribution of study sites. We found information for 20 squirrel species (71% of the recognised species), from 15 countries, in 48 publications containing 126 population density records and 155 publications containing 649 ecological interactions. The most studied species were Guerlinguetus brasiliensis, Notosciurus granatensis, and Sciurus variegatoides, with 53% of all publications, whereas for eight species of Microsciurus, we found no publications. The density of Neotropical squirrels varied from 0.08 to 100 individuals per km2 and was negatively correlated with forest area. Neotropical squirrels were recorded eating 174 plant taxa, five fungus taxa, four invertebrate taxa, and one species of vertebrate. Palms were common in the diet of squirrels (30 palm species, 27% of feeding records). Squirrels cached 28 plant species, of which 15 were palms. Sixty‐five taxa of parasites are documented to occur in Neotropical squirrels, and the most common were Enderleinellus lice. Zoonotic parasites, including trypanosomes, Leptospira spp., Leishmania spp., and plague were also reported. Our review reveals the main information gaps in the current knowledge about the ecology of Neotropical Sciuridae and maps the geographic distribution of the available information throughout South and Central America. Squirrels often thrive in small forest fragments and fulfil important roles as seed dispersers and prey for mesopredators.

A multi‐layered approach to the diversification of squirrels

“…The phylogenetic tree we constructed included almost 80% of extant species of Sciuridae ( n = 225), and 98% of the genera (59 out of 60, as in previous works). The sampling, however, was unbalanced: the phylogeny includes more Holarctic and terrestrial squirrels than arboreal squirrels from the tropics (Appendix ), as these species have been less intensively studied (Hawkins et al 2016, Mendes et al 2019).…”

Associated evolution of fruit size, fruit colour and spines in Neotropical palms

“…Seed predation can significantly impact fitness (Gómez, 2004; Orrock, Levey, Danielson, & Damschen, 2006) and plants that invest on producing large seeds also invest in defending them against predation (Bodmer, 1991). The evolutionary relationship between fruit size and presence of spines could be a response to seed predation pressure by vertebrates, especially rodents such as squirrels, which occasionally act as seed dispersers (Muñoz, Schaefer, Böhning‐Gaese, & Schleuning, 2017) but often consume palm seeds (Alves, Mendes, & Ribeiro, 2018; Mendes, Koprowski, & Galetti, 2019). However, even though the effectiveness of spines in preventing seed predation has not been systematically investigated, the spiny trunks of Astrocaryum spp.…”

Museomics of tree squirrels: a dense taxon sampling of mitogenomes reveals hidden diversity, phenotypic convergence, and the need of a taxonomic overhaul

“…4 Data Science Lab, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA. 5 Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA. 6 Department of Biology and Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA.…”

“…Squirrels (Sciuridae) comprise the third most diverse family of rodents, with about 60 genera and 300 species organized in five subfamilies [1][2][3]. In the Neotropics, squirrels are inhabitants of all forest biomes [1,2], and crucial to ecosystem dynamics as they play a vital role in seed predation and dispersal [4,5]. However, in contrast to other widespread Neotropical rodent groups, squirrels have been largely neglected in phylogenetic studies.…”