#Flying squirrel Patch

#Flying squirrel Patch

For both sexes probability of leaving the spruce forest patch correlated negatively with the size of the patch, but the type of connection the patch had to other patches did not affect the leaving probability. Females seldom changed spruce patches, but instead used the matrix for foraging. Males used matrix habitats for movement between spruce patches, and moved faster and more directly in the matrix than in the spruce forest. Males moved longer total distances and crossed edges more often than females. Flying squirrels used woodland strips for inter-patch movements, but also used matrix with trees and were able to cross narrow open gaps. We studied the movement of radio-collared adult flying squirrels in preferred (spruce forest) and in matrix habitat (open areas and other habitats with trees) in Finland 1997-2000, and determined whether the woodland strips connecting patches of preferred habitat could function as ecological corridors for flying squirrels. Numbers of flying squirrels have declined severely in Finland in past decades, probably due to modern forestry. The Siberian flying squirrel inhabits spruce-dominated boreal forests from Finland to eastern Siberia. To understand how landscape structure influences the movement and thus, population dynamics of animals, clear empirical knowledge on patterns of movement is needed. Elements of the landscape, such as patches of preferred habitat, matrix between patches, and corridors linking patches, differ as movement habitat for animals.