Population fluctuations and spatial synchrony in an arboreal rodent
DYNAMICS
0106 biological sciences
Population dynamics
PTEROMYS-VOLANS
Resource pulse
Population Dynamics
BREEDING SITES
01 natural sciences
Trees
REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS
BOREAL FORESTS
population dynamics
Climate change
Animals
Ecosystem
Finland
RED SQUIRRELS
Sciuridae
Reproductive success
Dispersal
15. Life on land
CLIMATE
Population Ecology–Original Research
NATAL DISPERSAL
Ecology, evolutionary biology
13. Climate action
Squirrel
ta1181
VOLE POPULATIONS
SIBERIAN FLYING SQUIRREL
DOI:
10.1007/s00442-019-04537-3
Publication Date:
2019-10-30T21:05:20Z
AUTHORS (10)
ABSTRACT
Abstract
Climatic conditions, trophic links between species and dispersal may induce spatial synchrony in population fluctuations. Spatial synchrony increases the extinction risk of populations and, thus, it is important to understand how synchrony-inducing mechanisms affect populations already threatened by habitat loss and climate change. For many species, it is unclear how population fluctuations vary over time and space, and what factors potentially drive this variation. In this study, we focus on factors determining population fluctuations and spatial synchrony in the Siberian flying squirrel, Pteromys volans, using long-term monitoring data from 16 Finnish populations located 2–400 km apart. We found an indication of synchronous population dynamics on a large scale in flying squirrels. However, the synchrony was not found to be clearly related to distance between study sites because the populations seemed to be strongly affected by small-scale local factors. The regularity of population fluctuations varied over time. The fluctuations were linked to changes in winter precipitation, which has previously been linked to the reproductive success of flying squirrels. Food abundance (tree mast) and predator abundance were not related to population fluctuations in this study. We conclude that spatial synchrony was not unequivocally related to distance in flying squirrels, as has been observed in earlier studies for more abundant rodent species. Our study also emphasises the role of climate in population fluctuations and the synchrony of the species.
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CITATIONS (6)
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