A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Immigration ensures population survival in the Siberian flying squirrel
Authors: Brommer JE, Wistbacka R, Selonen V
Publisher: WILEY
Publication year: 2017
Journal: Ecology and Evolution
Journal name in source: ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Journal acronym: ECOL EVOL
Volume: 7
Issue: 6
First page : 1858
Last page: 1868
Number of pages: 11
ISSN: 2045-7758
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2807
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/24729071
Abstract
Linking dispersal to population growth remains a challenging task and is a major knowledge gap, for example, for conservation management. We studied relative roles of different demographic rates behind population growth in Siberian flying squirrels in two nest-box breeding populations in western Finland. Adults and offspring were captured and individually identifiable. We constructed an integrated population model, which estimated all relevant annual demographic rates (birth, local [apparent] survival, and immigration) as well as population growth rates. One population (studied 2002-2014) fluctuated around a steady-state equilibrium, whereas the other (studied 1995-2014) showed a numerical decline. Immigration was the demographic rate which showed clear correlations to annual population growth rates in both populations. Population growth rate was density dependent in both populations. None of the demographic rates nor the population growth rate correlated across the two study populations, despite their proximity suggesting that factors regulating the dynamics are determined locally. We conclude that flying squirrels may persist in a network of uncoupled subpopulations, where movement between subpopulations is of critical importance. Our study supports the view that dispersal has the key role in population survival of a small forest rodent.
Linking dispersal to population growth remains a challenging task and is a major knowledge gap, for example, for conservation management. We studied relative roles of different demographic rates behind population growth in Siberian flying squirrels in two nest-box breeding populations in western Finland. Adults and offspring were captured and individually identifiable. We constructed an integrated population model, which estimated all relevant annual demographic rates (birth, local [apparent] survival, and immigration) as well as population growth rates. One population (studied 2002-2014) fluctuated around a steady-state equilibrium, whereas the other (studied 1995-2014) showed a numerical decline. Immigration was the demographic rate which showed clear correlations to annual population growth rates in both populations. Population growth rate was density dependent in both populations. None of the demographic rates nor the population growth rate correlated across the two study populations, despite their proximity suggesting that factors regulating the dynamics are determined locally. We conclude that flying squirrels may persist in a network of uncoupled subpopulations, where movement between subpopulations is of critical importance. Our study supports the view that dispersal has the key role in population survival of a small forest rodent.
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