Tamias striatus

Snyder, Dana P.

doi:10.2307/3503819

Cited by 71 publications

(49 citation statements)

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“…Litters produced in the summer typically display multiple paternities, with almost all juveniles within a given litter being sired by different males (Bergeron et al 2011a). After~4 weeks of gestation, females give birth to two to eight pups that spend the first 4-5 weeks of their life in the maternal burrow before emerging above ground and dispersing (Elliott 1978;Snyder 1982).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Intra-individual variability in fecal cortisol metabolites varies with lifetime exploration and reproductive life history in eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus)

Montiglio

Garant

Pelletier

et al. 2014

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Understanding the mechanistic links between individual variation in life history and behavior is a major challenge in evolutionary ecology. Glucocorticoids (GC) play a major role in this link through their baseline levels into the blood and their implication in stress responses to environmental perturbations. However, very few studies have investigated the long-term joint relationships between GC stress reactivity, life history, and behavior in natural conditions. Here, we took advantage of the behavioral and life history differences among individual males and females of a wild population of eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus): We investigated how individual exploration, age, and reproduction were linked to level and intra-individual variability (IIV) of fecal cortisol metabolites over a 5-month period. Our analyses revealed that female cortisol levels decreased during gestation and lactation compared with non-reproductive females. We also found that slower exploring females and females with a smaller litter displayed higher IIV in fecal cortisol metabolites. For males, fecal cortisol metabolites level during the mating season increased with the number of offspring produced and decreased with age. Our study highlights the necessity of considering simultaneously seasonal fluctuations in GC level and the dynamics of stress reactivity in the study of life history and behavioral co-adaptations within natural populations.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Study system and study site Eastern chipmunks are sciurids feeding on seeds from masting trees (Landry-Cuerrier et al 2008) that they hoard in their burrow for the winter (Snyder 1982). In Québec, chipmunks usually exhibit two mating seasons: A first one occurs in March while a second mating season occurs in June (Bergeron et al 2011a).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra-individual variability in fecal cortisol metabolites varies with lifetime exploration and reproductive life history in eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus)

Montiglio

Garant

Pelletier

et al. 2014

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…80 g (Careau et al 2010). Chipmunks can reach sexual maturity at six months of age (Snyder 1982). At their first capture, juveniles caught before 1 August were assigned to spring reproduction, whereas juveniles caught after 1 August were assigned to summer reproduction.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chipmunks display variable levels of aboveground activity ) and can reproduce during two distinct reproductive seasons: early spring, summer, or both (Bergeron et al 2011). Although chipmunks consume a variety of food items, their larder is mostly composed of seeds from dominant masting deciduous trees (Elliott 1978, Snyder 1982, Humphries et al 2002. We thus expect that mast anticipation, in addition to typical reproductive responses to seed availability, is a major driver of chipmunk activity and life-history strategies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anticipation and tracking of pulsed resources drive population dynamics in eastern chipmunks

Bergeron

Réale

Humphries

et al. 2011

Ecology

162

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Abstract. Pulsed systems are characterized by boom and bust cycles of resource production that are expected to cascade through multiple trophic levels. Many of the consumers within pulsed resource systems have specific adaptations to cope with these cycles that may serve to either amplify or dampen their community-wide consequences. We monitored a seed predator, the eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus), in an American beech (Fagus grandifolia) dominated forest, and used capture-mark-recapture analyses to estimate chipmunk vital rates and relate them to interannual variation in beech seed production. The summer activity and reproduction of adults anticipated autumn beech production, with high activity and intense reproduction occurring in summers prior to beech masts. Chipmunks also reproduced every spring following a beech mast. However, adult survival was independent of beech production. In contrast, juvenile survival was lower in years of mast failure than in years of mast production, but their activity was consistently high and independent of beech production. Population growth was strongly affected by the number of juveniles and therefore by beech seed production, which explains nearly 70% of variation in population growth. Our results suggest that a combination of resource-dependent reproduction and variable activity levels associated with anticipation and response to resource pulses allows consumers to buffer potential deleterious effects of low food abundance on their survival.

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Linking songbird nest predation to seedling density: Sugar maple masting as a resource pulse in a forest food web

Fiola

Vernouillet

Villard

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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The ecological literature presents considerable evidence for top‐down forcing on the maintenance of species diversity. Yet, in temperate forests, bottom‐up forces often exert a strong influence on ecosystem functioning. Here, we report on the indirect influence of a pulsed resource, sugar maple (Acer saccharum) seed production, on nest survival in a migratory songbird. We hypothesized that seed production in year t would determine daily nest survival rate in year t + 1 through its effects on seed‐eating rodents. We used the density of sugar maple seedlings (with cotyledons) in year t + 1 as a proxy for seed production in year t and predicted that it would be inversely related to songbird nest survival the same year. We estimated the density of sugar maple seedlings, eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) activity, and daily nest survival rate in the ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla) over four successive years in a northern hardwood forest of New Brunswick, Canada. Seedling density varied by two orders of magnitude between years, whereas an index of chipmunk activity changed by an order of magnitude. Both variables were positively correlated and negatively correlated to daily nest survival rate. A logistic‐exposure model including only seedling density received the greatest level of support (lowest AICc). Previous studies have reported the effect of sugar maple masting on seed‐eating rodent populations, but the strong link we report between seedling density and songbird nest survival is novel. A nocturnal seed‐eating nest predator, deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), was not considered in our models, which may explain why chipmunk was not the best predictor of daily nest survival rate. The trophic linkages we observed are remarkably strong for a temperate forest ecosystem and might become more prevalent in northeastern North America, at least on calcium‐rich soils, with the loss of large‐diameter beech trees as a result of beech bark disease.

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Tamias striatus

Cited by 71 publications

References 0 publications

Intra-individual variability in fecal cortisol metabolites varies with lifetime exploration and reproductive life history in eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus)

Intra-individual variability in fecal cortisol metabolites varies with lifetime exploration and reproductive life history in eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus)

Anticipation and tracking of pulsed resources drive population dynamics in eastern chipmunks

Linking songbird nest predation to seedling density: Sugar maple masting as a resource pulse in a forest food web

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