The Role of Red Squirrels and Arctic Ground Squirrels
Abstract A consistent feature throughout the boreal forest of North America is the rattle call of the red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, as it advertises its whereabouts to con specifics. Like the snowshoe hare, the red squirrel’s distribution encompasses the entire boreal forest (see figure 2....
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford University PressNew York, NY
2001
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195133936.003.0009 https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/52510912/isbn-9780195133936-book-part-9.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract A consistent feature throughout the boreal forest of North America is the rattle call of the red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, as it advertises its whereabouts to con specifics. Like the snowshoe hare, the red squirrel’s distribution encompasses the entire boreal forest (see figure 2.7). The “keek keek” call of a second squirrel species, the arctic ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryii, the siksik of the Inuit), is also heard in the boreal forests of northwestern North America (Banfield 1974). In terms of biomass of herbivores in these forests, these two squirrels are the second and third most important, respectively, after snowshoe hares (see figure 1.2). Both squirrel species could serve as alternate food sources for the many predators who eat primarily snowshoe hares. However, before our study, no one had investigated experimentally the possible linkages between populations of these squirrels and the snowshoe hare population cycle. The conventional wisdom is that any link would be a secondary one, as predators switch from hares to squirrels during the hare decline. Though both squirrels are active during the summer and thus potentially available to predators, only red squirrels remain active during the long boreal winter and are one of the few alternate prey available to hare predators. |
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