| Title |
Siberian flying squirrels do not anticipate future resource abundance
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
BMC Ecology and Evolution, November 2016
|
| DOI | 10.1186/s12898-016-0107-7 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Vesa Selonen, Ralf Wistbacka |
| Abstract |
One way to cope with irregularly occurring resources is to adjust reproduction according to the anticipated future resource availability. In support of this hypothesis, few rodent species have been observed to produce, after the first litter born in spring, summer litters in anticipation of autumn's seed mast. This kind of behaviour could eliminate or decrease the lag in population density normally present in consumer dynamics. We focus on possible anticipation of future food availability in Siberian flying squirrels, Pteromys volans. We utilise long-term data set on flying squirrel reproduction spanning over 20 years with individuals living in nest-boxes in two study areas located in western Finland. In winter and early spring, flying squirrels depend on catkin mast of deciduous trees. Thus, the temporal availability of food resource for Siberian flying squirrels is similar to other mast-dependent rodent species in which anticipatory reproduction has been observed. We show that production of summer litters was not related to food levels in the following autumn and winter. Instead, food levels before reproduction, in the preceding winter and spring, were related to production of summer litters. In addition, the amount of precipitation in the preceding winter was found to be related to the production of summer litters. Our results support the conclusion that Siberian flying squirrels do not anticipate the mast. Instead, increased reproductive effort in female flying squirrels is an opportunistic event, seized if the resource situation allows. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 3 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong | 1 | 33% |
| Ireland | 1 | 33% |
| Unknown | 1 | 33% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Scientists | 1 | 33% |
| Members of the public | 1 | 33% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 33% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 20 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 1 | 5% |
| Unknown | 19 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 5 | 25% |
| Student > Bachelor | 1 | 5% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 1 | 5% |
| Professor | 1 | 5% |
| Student > Master | 1 | 5% |
| Other | 1 | 5% |
| Unknown | 10 | 50% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 4 | 20% |
| Environmental Science | 3 | 15% |
| Unknown | 13 | 65% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 24 November 2016.
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#17,286,379
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Outputs from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#2,929
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#203,120
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Outputs of similar age from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#70
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