Winter site occupancy patterns of the northern flying squirrel in boreal mixed-wood forests

Trudeau, Caroline; Imbeau, Louis; Drapeau, Pierre; Mazerolle, Marc J.

doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2012.02.006

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Our patterns of overall mean abundance of G. sabrinus reached this level in various stand conditions. Smith (2007), Trudeau et al (2012), andPriol et al (2014) suggested that G. sabrinus may be more of a generalist species occupying a broader array of forest habitats than earlier postulated.…”

Section: Glaucomys Sabrinusmentioning

confidence: 87%

Tree squirrel abundance and demography in managed coniferous forests of British Columbia are within the range of natural fluctuations of old-growth stands

Sullivan

Ransome²,

Sullivan³

et al. 2017

Can. J. For. Res.

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Abstract:The American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus Exrleben) and northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus Shaw) are important mammal species in coniferous forests that are widely distributed across temperate and boreal ecological zones. Although T. hudsonicus and G. sabrinus apparently prefer late-successional forests, their population dynamics show no clear pattern in young second-growth and old-growth conifer forests. We used a compilation of study results that had standardized methodology and sampling effort to compare tree squirrel responses across a range of forest conditions. We tested the hypotheses (H) that abundance, reproduction, recruitment, and survival would be higher in (H 1 ) old-growth than second-growth stands, (H 2 ) unthinned than thinned second-growth stands, and (H 3 ) lightly than heavily thinned stands. Tree squirrel populations in old-growth stands were considered the "standard" treatment to which other treatments in second-growth stands (unthinned and variously thinned) were compared. Thinned stands were grouped into low, medium, and high densities of trees. Datasets from seven published studies included 2804 Tamiasciurus and 837 G. sabrinus individuals, 25 study years, and 158 trapping periods. Mean abundance of Tamiasciurus was similar among treatment stands, ranging from 0.62 to 1.29·ha −1 . Mean numbers of G. sabrinus were highest in old-growth stands at 0.65·ha −1 , followed by the low-and medium-density stands at 0.50·ha −1 , the high-density stands at 0.25·ha −1 , and finally the unthinned second-growth stands at a low of 0.12·ha −1 . In terms of effect size, mean proportional change in abundance, relative to that within old-growth stands, of both squirrel species in the three thinned stands were within the range of natural fluctuations in old-growth stands. Populations of Tamiasciurus in the unthinned stands were not within the range of fluctuations in the old-growth stands. Mean number of successful pregnancies and total recruits were similar among stands for Tamiasciurus, with variability in female breeding and winter survival. Mean number of recruits of G. sabrinus was highest in old-growth stands with no other differences in demographic attributes among stands. The biological significance of these differences in demographic variables was small in terms of effect sizes. Tamiasciurus and G. sabrinus seem to persist in a relatively broad range of young managed forest habitats, as well as in old-growth stands.Key words: coniferous forests, Glaucomys sabrinus, managed stands, old-growth forest, population dynamics, Tamiasciurus.Résumé : L'écureuil roux américain (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus Exrleben) et le grand polatouche (Glaucomys sabrinus Shaw) sont deux espèces de mammifères d'importance dans les forêts de conifères qui couvrent une grande partie des biomes tempérés et boréaux. Mis à part le fait que T. hudsonicus et G. sabrinus semblent préférer les forêts de fin de succession, leur dynamique des populations ne montre pas de tendances nettes dans les jeunes forêts d...

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Section: Glaucomys Sabrinusmentioning

confidence: 87%

Tree squirrel abundance and demography in managed coniferous forests of British Columbia are within the range of natural fluctuations of old-growth stands

Sullivan

Ransome²,

Sullivan³

et al. 2017

Can. J. For. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The use of nest boxes as roosting sites by red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus Erxleben) and northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus Shaw) is also common [69,70]. However, given their ability to construct bolus nests in the tree canopy and use underground burrows [71], squirrels are likely not limited by cavity availability [72].…”

Section: Effect Of Cavity Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing the Effect of Snag and Cavity Supply on Deadwood-Associated Species in a Managed Boreal Forest

Dufour-Pelletier

Tremblay

Hébert

et al. 2020

Forests

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Standing deadwood is an important attribute of old-growth boreal forests and it provides essential microhabitats for deadwood-associated species. In managed boreal forests, short rotations tend to limit the amount and diversity of standing deadwood. This study evaluates if the anthropogenic supply of deadwood attributes through tree girdling or by providing nest boxes may favor deadwood-associated species. We studied the short-term response of saproxylic beetles, foraging woodpeckers, and secondary cavity users to snag and cavity supply in 50 to 70-year-old black spruce stands. In spring 2015, we girdled 8000 black spruce according to two spatial distributions (uniform and clustered), and we also installed 450 nest boxes of six different sizes at three distances from the forest edge. Using trunk window traps, we captured significantly more beetles in sites with girdled trees than in control sites in both 2015 and 2016. We also recorded a trend of a greater abundance of beetles in clusters of girdled trees than within uniformly distributed girdled trees. Trypodendron lineatum (Oliver) dominated beetle assemblages, representing 88.5% of all species in 2015 and 74.6% in 2016. The number of beetles captured was 7× higher in 2015 than in 2016. In contrast, we observed greater amounts of woodpecker foraging marks in fall 2016 than in either fall 2015 or spring 2016. Woodpeckers foraged significantly more in clusters of girdled trees than within uniformly distributed girdled trees. Woodpeckers' foraging mark presence was positively associated with the proportion of recent cuts at 1 km around the study sites. Five Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus Forster) pairs used nest boxes and occupied smaller box sizes that were located away from the forest edge. Our study showed that structural enrichment can be effective in rapidly attracting deadwood-associated species within managed forest stands.

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Short-term responses of tree squirrels to different-sized forest patches on new clearcuts in a fragmented forest landscape

Sullivan

Sullivan²

2021

Wildl. Res.

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ContextTree squirrels disappear when forests are clearcut. The American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) and northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) may occupy retention forest patches on new clearcuts, but with conflicting results with respect to area, isolation, and edge effects of patches. AimsWe tested the hypothesis that abundance, reproduction and body mass of T. hudsonicus and G. sabrinus populations would be greater in large than small patches of retention forest on new clearcuts. MethodsWe measured demographic responses of both sciurids from 2014 to 2016 in replicated (n=4) treatments of four sizes (ha) of retention patches (means of 0.53, 1.50, 4.13 and 18.73) in south-central British Columbia, Canada. Key resultsMean abundance of T. hudsonicus per sample line was similar among treatment sites, ranging from 0.7 to 1.7 (2014), 1.0 to 1.7 (2015) and 0.5 to 1.3 (2016). There was a positive linear relationship of mean abundance of red squirrels and increased basal area of conifers in the larger patches. Mean numbers of G. sabrinus were consistently highest in the 4.13 ha patch class in all years and appeared to decline over time in the other patches with fewest captures in the smallest patch size. There was a significant positive linear relationship between mean overall abundance of G. sabrinus and total density of overstorey trees. ConclusionsMean abundance, reproduction and body mass (red squirrels) of both sciurids were generally similar among patch sizes, and hence these results did not support the hypothesis. ImplicationsAlthough our results were short-term, habitat quality was apparently sufficient to maintain the occurrence of T. hudsonicus across patch sizes ranging from 0.3 to 20.0 ha. Glaucomys sabrinus also occurred in several patches (13 of 16), albeit at low and variable numbers.

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Winter site occupancy patterns of the northern flying squirrel in boreal mixed-wood forests

Cited by 3 publications

References 42 publications

Tree squirrel abundance and demography in managed coniferous forests of British Columbia are within the range of natural fluctuations of old-growth stands

Tree squirrel abundance and demography in managed coniferous forests of British Columbia are within the range of natural fluctuations of old-growth stands

Testing the Effect of Snag and Cavity Supply on Deadwood-Associated Species in a Managed Boreal Forest

Short-term responses of tree squirrels to different-sized forest patches on new clearcuts in a fragmented forest landscape

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