Waiting on a mule deer crossing…
Natal dispersal, the movement of individuals from birthplace to breeding site where they find mates, is crucial to understand because it plays a major role in population demography, genetic diversity, social structure, and distribution of individuals. To help made important decision like dispersal, animals must use cues from the environment to evaluate the decision between staying and leaving. Cues that juvenile animals may use to determine the dispersal decision include the density of adult animals in the natal area, density and interactions of siblings or closely related individuals, and their body condition at the time of dispersal. In this study, we will investigate whether body size at time of dispersal, density of kin, and kin interactions affect dispersal choice of the golden-mantled ground squirrels (Callospermorphilus lateralis), an asocial ground-dwelling squirrel in the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL). In addition to newly collected data, we will also analyze archived data on female juvenile location and activity collected from the same population since 1990 at RMBL to test our hypotheses.
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