Population regulation and annual cycles of activity and dispersal in Arctic ground squirrels ...

• Main Author: Green, Jeffrey Emil
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Subjects: Arctic; Kluane National Park; Yukon
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0094007; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0094007

Dispersal has been implicated as one of the potentially important factors of population regulation. Interactive behaviours, particularly aggression, have been suggested as the ultimate cause of dispersal. To determine if social behaviour is related to dispersal and to population regulation, I conducted a study of the population changes and behaviour of two populations of Arctic ground squirrels, Spermophilus undulatus, in Kluane National Park, Yukon Territory, Canada. Within each study site, I established a control area and one experimental area in which resident animals were removed at regular intervals. On one site, I conducted two additional experiments. One involved the provision of an additional food supply and the other, a continuous removal of all adult males. The annual activity pattern of Arctic ground squirrels in the Kluane region was characterized by a 7-8 month period of hibernation, emergence, establishment of territories, a short breeding period, development and emergence of young, restoration ...