Richardson ’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus richardsonii) are associated primarily with intermediate levels of grassland, clay loam soils, and human development in Canadian mixed-grass prairies
Canadian Journal of Zoology, Ahead of Print. Richardson ’s ground squirrel (Urocitellus richardsonii (Sabine, 1822)) is a widespread burrowing mammal on the northern Great Plains. This species is a prominent prey item for a variety of predators and its burrows provide important habitat for other wildlife; however, Richardson’s ground squirrel is also considered an economically damaging agricultural pest. Despite the ecological importance of Richardson’s ground squirrels and their status as pests, there are gaps in our knowledge about large-scale habitat associations for this species. In 2011 and 2012, we conducted 18...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - August 10, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: Ryan J. Fisher Ashley N. Vass Christopher M. Somers Ray G. Poulin Source Type: research
Partitioning resources through the seasons: abundance and phenology of carrion beetles (Silphidae) in southeastern Ontario, Canada
Canadian Journal of Zoology, Ahead of Print. The coexistence of ecologically similar species is thought to require resource partitioning to minimize competition. Phenological, seasonal differences in activity may provide an important axis for resource partitioning. Here, we test for evidence of seasonal differences in activity within a diverse guild of carrion beetles (Silphidae) in a habitat preserve on the Frontenac Arch, southeastern Ontario, Canada, using a large-scale survey during their active seasons (April to October). We then used generalized additive models to test for differences in seasonal abundance among eigh...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - August 9, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: J.D. Wettlaufer K.W. Burke D.V. Beresford P.R. Martin Source Type: research
Experimental corticosterone manipulation increases mature feather corticosterone content: implications for inferring avian stress history from feather analyses
Canadian Journal of Zoology, Ahead of Print. Feathers incorporate circulating steroids during development. It is therefore assumed that the corticosterone (CORT) content of feathers (CORTf) represents an integrated measure of plasma CORT over the moult period. We tested this assumption by quantifying CORTf in feathers of House Sparrows (Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758)) that were plucked before and after experimental manipulation of circulating CORT. Two of the seven flight feathers collected from each bird were fully grown throughout the CORT-manipulation period. We found that CORTf of all seven feathers corresponded wi...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - August 9, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: Yaara Aharon-Rotman William A. Buttemer Lee Koren Katherine Wynne-Edwards Source Type: research
Winter nest trees of sympatric northern (Glaucomys sabrinus) and southern (Glaucomys volans) flying squirrels: a test of reinforcement in a hybrid zone
We examined winter nest use of northern (Glaucomys sabrinus (Shaw, 1801)) and southern (Glaucomys volans (Linnaeus, 1758)) flying squirrels in an area of recent secondary contact and known hybridization in Ontario, Canada, to test for evidence of reinforcement due to different and diverging nesting behaviours. We radio-collared 26 flying squirrels (12 G. sabrinus and 14 G. volans) between two survey periods (winters of 2008–2009 and 2019–2020) and identified all nest trees used by individuals throughout each winter. For each nest tree, we identified the nest type and collected tree classification information to comp...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - August 9, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: Paul P. O ’Brien Jeff Bowman Andrea B. Coombs Sasha L. Newar Colin J. Garroway Source Type: research
Evaluating odour and urinary sex preferences in the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus)
Canadian Journal of Zoology, Ahead of Print. Olfactory cues provide detailed information to mammals regarding conspecifics. Bats may identify species, colony membership, and individuals using olfaction. Big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus (Palisot de Beauvois, 1796)) live in mixed-sex colonies and must differentiate between sexes to locate mates. We hypothesized that odour cues convey information about sex. In experiment 1, adult E. fuscus were recorded exploring a Y-maze that contained general body odours sampled from male or female conspecifics. One group of subjects was habituated to the Y-maze prior to experimental tria...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - August 7, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: Lucas J.S. Greville Audrey G. Tam Paul A. Faure Source Type: research
Effects of food, kinship, and density on the longevity of spiderlings
Canadian Journal of Zoology, Ahead of Print. Cannibalism is a behavioral characteristic found in a wide variety of animal groups. Although the rates of cannibalism can vary from one group to another, studies indicate that the main factors contributing to an increase in the frequency of such behavior are the availability of food, population density, the behavior and availability of victims, and environmental stress. We carried out different laboratory experiments to assess whether different factors such as the presence or absence of food among siblings and non-siblings, and at different densities among conspecific and heter...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - August 2, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: Marta Luciane Fischer Lays Cherobim Parolin Felipe Marcel Neves German Antonio Villanueva-Bonilla Jo ão Vasconellos-Neto Source Type: research
Spring diet of American black bears (Ursus americanus) in a moose (Alces alces) – woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) system in northern Ontario, Canada
Canadian Journal of Zoology, Ahead of Print. American black bears (Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780) are opportunistic foragers, and across most of their range in North America, their diet is predominantly vegetation with limited consumption of vertebrates and invertebrates. However, they are also predators of ungulates, especially neonates, with regional variation in the amount of predation pressure they exert. We used scat analysis to examine the diet of black bears during the calving season in a moose (Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758)) – woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)) system in the Boreal fores...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - July 23, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: A.A.D. McLaren S.E. Jamieson M. Bond A.R. Rodgers B.R. Patterson Source Type: research
Testing hypotheses of habitat use and temporal activity in relation to body plan in a Mediterranean lizard community
Canadian Journal of Zoology, Ahead of Print. A body plan (bauplan) is a suite of morphological characters shared by phylogenetically related animals at some point during their development. Despite its value, the bauplan concept is still rarely employed to characterize functional groups in community ecology. Here, we examine habitat use and spatio-temporal activity correlates of an entire seven-species community of lizards with different bauplans. The study was carried out in three locations in central Italy, encompassing a complex landscape with a patchy mosaic of a wide variety of habitats and microclimates. We tested fou...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - July 22, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: Lorenzo Rugiero Massimo Capula Daniele Dendi Fabio Petrozzi Julia E. Fa Stephan M. Funk Russell L. Burke Luca Luiselli Source Type: research
Gray wolf (Canis lupus) predation patterns following recent recolonization in a multi-predator, multi-prey system
Canadian Journal of Zoology, Ahead of Print. Predator –prey interactions are among the most fundamental of ecological relationships. Recolonizing gray wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) populations present new challenges for wildlife management in multi-prey, multi-carnivore systems. We documented diet composition and kill rates for wolves in a recent ly recolonized area over winter and summer seasons (2014–2015). Elk (Cervus canadensis Erxleben, 1777) were the primary ungulate prey (63%) located at wolf kill sites. Deer (mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus (Rafinesque, 1817)) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus (Z...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - July 19, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: Elizabeth K. Orning Katie M. Dugger Darren A. Clark Source Type: research
Anthropogenic disturbance promotes the abundance of a newly introduced butterfly, the European common blue (Polyommatus icarus; Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), in Canada
Canadian Journal of Zoology, Ahead of Print. The frequency of introductions of non-native species is increasing worldwide, but only a few introduced species undergo rapid population growth and range expansion, and even fewer become invasive, leading to negative impacts on native communities. Predicting which non-native species are likely to become widespread and abundant can be difficult when there is a lack of species ’ information in the early stages of colonization. Here, we investigate the ecology of a newly introduced butterfly in Canada, the European common blue (Polyommatus icarus (Rottemberg, 1775)), by modelling...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - July 19, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: Stephanie A. Rivest Heather M. Kharouba Source Type: research
A comprehensive review of dietary strategies of sigmodontine rodents of central-eastern Argentina: linking diet, body mass, and stomach morphology
Canadian Journal of Zoology, Ahead of Print. Information on dietary ecology plays a key role in a wide array of biological research and conservation decisions, but its availability is biased towards large and charismatic taxa, whereas small mammals are underrepresented. Of the scarce publications on the Neotropical sigmodontine rodents, most are concentrated in central-eastern Argentina and, up until now, no revision of the totality of these data has been made available. In this work, we performed a thorough review of the dietary information from over 50 publications on 22 species, finding omissions and errors propagated u...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - July 15, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: Sof ía Barbero Pablo Teta Guillermo H. Cassini Source Type: research
Phenotypic differences among wild passerine nestlings in relation to early-life rearing environment
Canadian Journal of Zoology, Ahead of Print. Subtle changes in stress physiology during critical developmental stages have been linked to long-term fitness; however, the biological processes and phenotypic responses to early-life rearing environments, such as anthropogenic land use conditions, have not been fully evaluated in insectivorous birds. We manipulated Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor (Vieillot, 1808)) brood sizes at sites with contrasting agricultural land use to assess phenotypic changes in body condition and genetic and physiological biomarkers of stress during the sensitive nestling growth phase. We predicted...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - July 15, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: Jes ús Gómez Christy A. Morrissey Sonia Cabezas Tracy A. Marchant Robert G. Clark Source Type: research
Ecological correlates of fecal corticosterone metabolites in female Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)
Canadian Journal of Zoology,Volume 99, Issue 9, Page 812-822, September 2021. Measurement of physiological responses can reveal effects of ecological conditions on an animal and correlate with demographic parameters. Ecological conditions for many animal species have deteriorated as a function of invasive plants and habitat fragmentation. Expansion of juniper (genus Juniperus L.) trees and invasion of annual grasses into sagebrush (genus Artemisia L.) ecosystems have contributed to habitat degradation for Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus (Bonaparte, 1827); hereinafter Sage-Grouse), a species of conservation c...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - July 12, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: J.C. Rabon C.M.V. Nu ñez P.S. Coates M.A. Ricca T.N. Johnson Source Type: research
Evaluating indices of nutritional condition for caribou (Rangifer tarandus): which are the most valuable and why?
Canadian Journal of Zoology,Volume 99, Issue 7, Page 596-613, July 2021. Body composition studies are critical for evaluating the accuracy of nutritional condition indices for predicting body components. We evaluated>40 indices of nutritional condition for caribou (Rangifer tarandus (Linnaeus, 1758)) using 29 female caribou captured from three populations in Alaska (USA) that ranged in condition from 2.3% to 11.2% ingesta-free body fat (IFBF) and 6 captive female caribou that ranged in condition from 8.1% to 26.0% IFBF. Estimates of body fat, protein, and gross energy were regressed against each index of nutritional con...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - July 9, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: Rachel C. Cook John A. Crouse John G. Cook Thomas R. Stephenson Source Type: research
Ideal free eagles: Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) distribution in relation to Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) availability on four spawning rivers
Canadian Journal of Zoology, Ahead of Print. The movement of individuals according to the availability of resources has a fundamental effect on animal distributions. In the Pacific Northwest, Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766)) rely heavily on scavenging opportunities during the non-breeding period, and their distribution and movements are thought to be strongly influenced by the availability of post-spawning Pacific salmon (genus Oncorhynchus Suckley, 1861) carcasses. We surveyed the abundance of eagles and salmon on four adjacent rivers on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, during the 2017 fa...
Source: Canadian Journal of Zoology - June 30, 2021 Category: Zoology Authors: K.E. Walters J.D. Reynolds R.C. Ydenberg Source Type: research
