A preliminary survey on nest cavity use by Siberian flying squirrels, Pteromys volans orii, in forests of Hokkaido Island, Japan

Abstract

In central Ontario, Canada, G. volans uses hollows within American beech (Fagus grandifolia) for nesting (Holloway & Malcolm, 2007). Glaucomys sabrinus selectively uses trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), white birch (Betula papyrifera), and yellow birch (B. alleghaniensis) in central Ontario (Holloway & Malcolm, 2007) and P. tremuloides in British Columbia, Canada (Martin et al., 2004). We undertook a preliminary assessment of the nest requirements of the Siberian flying squirrel Pteromys

Different Nest Site Selection of Two Sympatric Arboreal Rodent Species, Siberian Flying Squirrel and Small Japanese Field Mouse, in Hokkaido, Japan

“…There have been a few studies of nest site selection by P. volans Kadoya et al 2010), but little known of nest site selection by A. argenteus. Although there may be competition between these two rodents for tree cavities, their nest sites have hitherto not been compared or reported.…”

Nest box utility for arboreal small mammals

“…Tree cavities in forest ecosystems are a vital resource, providing sites for nesting, roosting, foraging, and reproduction for many vertebrates (e.g., Fokidis & Risch, 2005). Arboreal rodents living in sub-boreal and temperate zones mainly use tree cavities for nests: for instance, northern flying squirrel Glaucomys sabrinus (Carey et al, 1997;Cotton & Parker, 2000;Bakker & Hastings, 2002), southern flying squirrel G. volans (Wells-Gosling, 1985;Fokidis & Risch, 2005), Siberian flying squirrel Pteromys volans (Hanski et al, 2000a;Airapetyants & Fokin, 2004;Kadoya et al, 2011), Allens squirrel Sciurus alleni (Best, 1995), gray squirrel S. carolinensis (Koprowski, 1996), and Arizona gray squirrel S. arizonensis (Best & Riedel, 1995). Although there are many arboreal rodent species in tropical regions (Corbet & Hill, 1992;Wilson & Reeder, 2005), little known about how they use nest cavities.…”