The Effects of Livestock on California Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyii)

The Effects of Livestock on California Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyii )

Understanding the impacts of livestock grazing on wildlands is important for making appropriate ecosystem management decisions. Using livestock exclosures, we examined the effects of moderate cattle grazing on the abundance of California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyii Richardson) and the spatial distribution of active burrows within their colonies in grassland and blue oak (Quercus do...

The effects of wind turbines on antipredator behavior in California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi)

Electricity-generating wind turbines are an attractive energy source because they are renewable and produce no emissions. However, they have at least two potentially damaging ecological effects. Their rotating blades are hazardous to raptors which occasionally fly into them. And wind turbines are very noisy when active, a feature that may interfere with the lives of animals beneath them. We stu...

Hibernation effects on memory in European ground squirrels (Spermophilus citellus).

Effects of hibernation on memory were tested in European ground squirrels (Spermophilus citellus). The animals were trained in summer to successfully accomplish two tasks: a spatial memory task in a maze and an operant task on a feeding machine. One group hibernated normally, and the other was prevented from hibernation by maintaining ambient temperature at 22 degrees C. In spring, the same tas...

Individual variation in the antisnake behavior of California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi)

Food Restriction Effects on the Body Composition of Free-living Ground Squirrels, Spermophilus belding

I conducted afield experiment to examine the use of body fat as an energy reserve by juvenile female Belding's ground squirrels, Spermophilus beldingi, prior to hibernation. Squirrels were divided into two groups: the squirrels in one group had their foraging times restricted by being placed in a cage forpart of each day for four consecutive days (deprived group), and the squirrels in the other...