Squirrel Abundance

The lab was conducted by myself and 3 peers: Hassan, Enrique and Brad. The experiment investigated the differences in squirrel abundance in urban and woodland areas of York University. The objective of the experiment was to answer the biological question regarding the differences in abundance of the squirrels in the two areas and the reasons why they differed. It was hypothesized that there would be a greater abundance of squirrels in woodland areas as opposed to urban areas because of greater food, decreased stress (due to people) and increased space for shelter. The hypothesis was based on the predictions that food supply would be vital for squirrel survival with winter approaching. Therefore there would be a greater presence of squirrels in the woodland areas with many acorn baring trees and bushes present. The experiment took place over the duration of 2 labs, with approximately 45 minutes designated to the woodland and urban area per lab. We started in Vari Hall (urban) area and followed Campus Walk towards the west end of Steacies Building where we ended at the east side of the Lumbers- Farquharson tunnel. Using Google maps to mark these designated areas, observations were made for the urban area. For the woodlot area, data was collected from the woodlot located south of the Chimneystack road at the end of campus. We started walking from the centre and in towards the woodlot and then looped around the west side. Squirrels were observed for and recorded. The variables that were investigated were: density of people present, the number of squirrels, color, activity, competition, resources and size. The density of people was a visual approximation using a scale from 0-2, where 0 was no human density, 1 was a medium amount of people, and 2 was a high amount of human density. This variable was investigated to test whether stress caused by abundance of people affected the abundance of squirrels. The number of squirrels were then counted during time of observation in the designated area. Any squirrels present in the area were counted and noted for. The colour of the squirrels counted were also noted for based on the most abundant colour seen on the squirrel. The activity of the squirrel was observed to see whether it was standing, eating or running. Competition measured other mammals such as birds, groundhogs and chipmunks that were present during the time of observation. If the animal used the same resources as the squirrels, it was considered competition and noted as active. If there were animals that present but did not compete for the same resources as the squirrels, it was denoted as present or absent if no animals were seen. Resources was noted as present or absent based on if there were acorn baring trees and bushes with berries. It also took into account various bushes and trees where squirrels would climb and shelter themselves. The size of the squirrels were visually observed based on how big they were and were scaled from 1-5, where 1 was a small squirrel and 5 was a large squirrel.