Data from: Predation risk landscape modifies flying and red squirrel nest site occupancy independently of habitat amount ...

• Main Authors: Turkia, Tytti, Korpimäki, Erkki, Villers, Alexandre, Selonen, Vesa
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2019
• Subjects: habitat type; Late Holocene; forest type; predation risk; Pteromys volans; Sciurus vulgaris; Cone crop; site occupancy; Picea abies; Squirrels; Accipiter gentilis; Strix uralensis; Ural Owl
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6430mr0; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.6430mr0

Habitat choice often entails trade-offs between food availability and predation risk. Understanding the distribution of individuals in space thus requires that both habitat characteristics and predation risk are considered simultaneously. Here, we studied the nest box use of two arboreal squirrels who share preferred habitat with their main predators. Nocturnal Ural owls (Strix uralensis) decreased occurrence of night-active flying squirrels (Pteromys volans) and diurnal goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) that of day-active red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris). Unexpectedly, the amount of preferred habitat had no effect on nest box use, but, surprisingly, both squirrel species seemed to benefit from close proximity to agricultural fields and red squirrels to urban areas. We found no evidence of trade-off between settling in a high-quality habitat and avoiding predators. However, the amount of poor-quality young pine forests was lower in occupied sites where goshawks were present, possibly indicating habitat specific ... : Nest-box occupancy data for flying squirrelsData describes occupancy (1=precence, 0=absence) of flying squirrels in nest boxes. BCODE= name of nest box. ID = a unique combination of box name and census year. Ural owl and goshawk columns describe modelled predation risk from these predators at the nest box site, see article for methods. h1...h27 refer to different land use classes and their combinations as in Table 1 of the research article. _200m and _1km means area (square meters) of that habitat within 200 meters and 1km from nest box, respectively. s (for example h17_200ms) refers to standarized amount of that habitat, see methods.FlyingSquirrelDataDryad.xlsxNest box occupancy data for red squirrelsData describes nest box occupancy of red squirrels. 1= presence, 0=absence. BCODE= name of the box. ID= unique combination of box name and census year. Goshawk and Ural owl columns describe modelled predation risk from these predators at the nest box site, see methods in research article. h1...h27 refer to land ...