• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks
    • UAF Graduate School
    • Older Theses Not Clearly Affiliated with a Current College
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks
    • UAF Graduate School
    • Older Theses Not Clearly Affiliated with a Current College
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of Scholarworks@UACommunitiesPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeThis CollectionPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsType

    My Account

    Login

    First Time Submitters, Register Here

    Register

    Statistics

    Display statistics

    Red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) ecology during spruce cone failure in Alaska

    • CSV
    • RefMan
    • EndNote
    • BibTex
    • RefWorks
    Thumbnail
    Name:
    Smith_M_1984.pdf
    Size:
    47.77Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    Download
    Author
    Smith, Michael C. T.
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11122/7432
    Abstract
    Observations were made on a red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) population in a mature white spruce (Picea glauca) forest near Fairbanks, Alaska, during two years of spruce cone crop failure (July, 1964, to April, 1966). An adequate supply of old spruce cones, cached in previous years, was available during the first winter. A 67% drop in numbers of the squirrel population followed the second crop failure with the remaining squirrels utilizing spruce buds as their primary food during the winter. Stomach analyses revealed that when present, spruce seed is the major constituent in the diet. In its absence, heavy utilization of mushrooms in summer and spruce buds in winter occurs. Feeding trials conducted with captive red squirrels in March, 1965, and April, 1966, showed that about 194 old cones per day were necessary to sustain a squirrel, approximately 35% more than for cones from the current year's crop. Three squirrels survived for eight days on a diet of only white spruce buds. Analysis of old spruce cones showed that 31% of the seed was potentially viable (filled), but that only 1.4% of the seed germinated. Calorimetric determinations of old seed (minus coat), spruce buds, and mushrooms yielded values of 5,976, 4,986, and 4,552 cal/g respectively. Excavation of middens revealed up to 8,518 old, cached cones per midden, despite a crop failure. In years of normal cone production, squirrels may cut and cache 12,000 to 16,000 cones; the excess accrues each year and eventually a sufficient supply exists to maintain the squirrels through a winter following a cone crop failure.
    Description
    Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1967
    Date
    1967-05
    Type
    Thesis
    Collections
    Theses supervised by AKCFWRU
    Older Theses Not Clearly Affiliated with a Current College
    Theses (Unassigned)

    entitlement

     
    ABOUT US|HELP|BROWSE|ADVANCED SEARCH

    The University of Alaska Fairbanks is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and educational institution and is a part of the University of Alaska system.

    ©UAF 2013 - 2022 | Questions? ua-scholarworks@alaska.edu | Last modified: September 25, 2019

    Open Repository is a service operated by 
    Atmire NV
     

    Export search results

    The export option will allow you to export the current search results of the entered query to a file. Different formats are available for download. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format.

    By default, clicking on the export buttons will result in a download of the allowed maximum amount of items.

    To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

    After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.