Ecology of<i>Glaucomys sabrinus</i>: Habitat, Demography, and Community Relations

Smith, Winston P.

doi:10.1644/06-mamm-s-371r1.1

Cited by 72 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 110 publications

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“…An ecologically important species in the frequent-fire forests of California and western North America (Smith 2007;Carey 2009) is G. sabrinus, the occurrence and abundance of which was unequivocally associated with unburned areas. G. sabrinus forages extensively on truffles (fruiting bodies of hypogeous fungi- Waters and Zabel 1995), and the abundance, biomass, and frequency of truffles are significantly lower in recently burned than unburned stands in Sierra Nevada frequent-fire forests (Meyer et al 2005(Meyer et al , 2008.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fire can be especially influential in structuring small mammal communities in forest ecosystems through the differential modification of available habitat structures (e.g., trees, snags, logs), thermal cover (e.g., tree canopy cover), or food availability and quality (e.g., understory plants, tree seeds, invertebrates- Lyon et al 2000b;Fisher and Wilkinson 2005). In forests of western North America, unburned and lowseverity burned habitats may retain critical features for forestdependent small mammal species, including but not limited to species such as Glaucomys sabrinus, Tamiasciurus douglasii, and Sciurus griseus; these arboreal species often require large habitat structures (i.e., trees, snags, logs) and intact forest canopies for survival and reproduction (Buchanan et al 1990;Smith 2007). G. sabrinus, in particular, is generally associated with old forests characterized by a complex structure of multilayer canopies, large-diameter trees and snags, and large decayed logs (Waters and Zabel 1995;Lehmkuhl et al 2006;Smith 2007); these features are often associated with fire exclusion in frequent-fire forest ecosystems.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In forests of western North America, unburned and lowseverity burned habitats may retain critical features for forestdependent small mammal species, including but not limited to species such as Glaucomys sabrinus, Tamiasciurus douglasii, and Sciurus griseus; these arboreal species often require large habitat structures (i.e., trees, snags, logs) and intact forest canopies for survival and reproduction (Buchanan et al 1990;Smith 2007). G. sabrinus, in particular, is generally associated with old forests characterized by a complex structure of multilayer canopies, large-diameter trees and snags, and large decayed logs (Waters and Zabel 1995;Lehmkuhl et al 2006;Smith 2007); these features are often associated with fire exclusion in frequent-fire forest ecosystems. In contrast, many grounddwelling squirrels, such as Otospermophilus beecheyi and Callospermophilus lateralis, occur primarily in open habitats and may select moderate-to high-severity burned patches that contain open canopies and may be dominated by herbaceous plants and shrubs (Converse et al 2006a).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Effects of fire on small mammal communities in frequent-fire forests in California

Roberts¹,

Kelt²,

Wagtendonk³

et al. 2015

JMAMMAL

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Fire is a natural, dynamic process that is integral to maintaining ecosystem function. The reintroduction of fire (e.g., prescribed fire, managed wildfire) is a critical management tool for protecting many frequent-fire forests against standreplacing fires while restoring an essential ecological process. Understanding the effects of fire on forests and wildlife communities is important in natural resource planning efforts. Small mammals are key components of forest food webs and essential to ecosystem function. To investigate the relationship of fire to small mammal assemblages, we live trapped small mammals in 10 burned and 10 unburned forests over 2 years in the central Sierra Nevada, California. Small mammal abundance was higher in unburned forests, largely reflecting the greater proportion of closed-canopy species such as Glaucomys sabrinus in unburned forests. The most abundant species across the entire study area was the highly adaptable generalist species, Peromyscus maniculatus. Species diversity was similar between burned and unburned forests, but burned forests were characterized by greater habitat heterogeneity and higher small mammal species evenness. The use and reintroduction of fire to maintain a matrix of burn severities, including large patches of unburned refugia, creates a heterogeneous and resilient landscape that allows for fire-sensitive species to proliferate and, as such, may help maintain key ecological functions and diverse small mammal assemblages.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of fire on small mammal communities in frequent-fire forests in California

Roberts¹,

Kelt²,

Wagtendonk³

et al. 2015

JMAMMAL

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“…This arboreal species is reliant on old forest characteristics, is considered a forest keystone species (reviewed in Smith, 2007) and has been proposed as a forest management indicator species. The species' habitat associations, locomotion and general biology suggest that it may be particularly sensitive to landscape configuration (Carey, 2000;D'Eon et al, 2002;Scheibe et al, 2006;Smith and Person, 2007), however no previous study has assessed its response to landscape structure while controlling for the confounding effects of landscape composition and variation caused by site-scale habitat quality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of landscape composition and configuration on northern flying squirrels in a forest mosaic

Ritchie

Betts

Forbes

et al. 2009

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…Stands with a conifer component may offer more protective cover from predators for foraging CNFS than those without. The link between forest maturity or forest decadence, indicative of old-growth conditions that support diverse and abundant fungal communities, and optimal foraging and den conditions for northern flying squirrels has long been noted in the Pacific Northwest and southeast Alaska (Carey et al 1999, Smith 2007. Unfortunately, outside of a few areas in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park where substantive old-growth, high-elevation forest conditions and CNFS occur together, these conditions largely are absent at the landscape level in the remainder of the southern Appalachians or in the central Appalachians for VNFS.…”

Section: Importance Of Red Sprucementioning

confidence: 99%

Late winter and early spring home range and habitat use of the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel in western North Carolina

Ford¹,

Kelly²,

Rodrigue³

et al. 2014

Endang. Species. Res.

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The Carolina northern flying squirrel Glaucomys sabrinus coloratus is an endangered subspecies that is restricted to high elevation forests in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Owing to rugged terrain and nocturnal habits, the subspecies' natural history, home range characteristics and habitat preferences are poorly known. We radio-tracked 3 female and 2 male Carolina northern flying squirrels during late winter through spring 2012 in the Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina, USA. Tracked squirrels used 13 yellow birch Betula alleghaniensis and 9 red spruce Picea rubens as diurnal dens. Ten of the yellow birch dens were in cavities, whereas the remainders were dreys. Conversely, 8 of the red spruce dens were dreys and one was in a cavity. Mean (± SE) female 95 and 50% adaptive kernel home ranges were 6.50 ± 2.19 and 0.93 ± 0.33 ha, respectively, whereas the corresponding values for males were 12.6 ± 0.9 and 1.45 ± 0.1 ha, respectively. Squirrels used red spruce stands with canopies > 20 m more than expected based on availability at the landscape and home range scales. Results should be interpreted cautiously because of small sample sizes and seasonal observations; however, they provide evidence that although northern hardwoods such as yellow birch are an important den habitat component, mature red spruce-dominated habitats with complex structure provide foraging habitats and are also den habitat. Our findings support efforts to improve the structural condition of extant red spruce forests and/or increase red spruce acreage to potentially benefit Carolina northern flying squirrels.

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Ecology ofGlaucomys sabrinus: Habitat, Demography, and Community Relations

Cited by 72 publications

References 110 publications

Effects of fire on small mammal communities in frequent-fire forests in California

Effects of fire on small mammal communities in frequent-fire forests in California

Effects of landscape composition and configuration on northern flying squirrels in a forest mosaic

Late winter and early spring home range and habitat use of the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel in western North Carolina

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