Boom and bust: The effects of masting on seed predator range dynamics and trophic cascades

Aim: Spatiotemporal variation in resource availability is a strong driver of animal distributions. In northern hardwood and boreal forests of the northeastern United States, tree mast events provide resource pulses that drive the population dynamics of small mammals, including the American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), a primary songbird nest predator. This study sought to determine whether mast availability ameliorates their abiotic limits, enabling red squirrel elevational distributions to temporarily expand and negatively impact high elevation songbirds.
Location: Northeastern United States
Methods: We used two independent datasets to evaluate our hypotheses. First, we fit a dynamic occupancy model using data from camera trap surveys to evaluate red squirrel distributional responses to pulses in tree mast. We also assessed population responses using systematic auditory surveys analyzed with an open-population binomial mixture model. Further, we used modeled red squirrel abu..., , , # Data from: Boom and bust: The effects of masting on seed predator range dynamics and trophic cascades

## Occupancy data

**Occupancy_Cameras_RESQ.rds** - .rds file containing all associated data to run the occupancy model.

### Description of data

**occ**: A three dimensional array [sites, weeks, months] with binary occurrence data of American red squirrels
**nTraps**: The total number of camera traps
**nWeeks**: The maximum number of weeks in a primary period (months)
**nMonths**: The number of primary periods (month)
**camera**: Integer for camera
**wkmon**: The number of weeks within in primary period
**mon_sampled**: Array [sites,start:end] with start and end month for each camera
**ncovs**: number of covariates
**npcovs**: number of detection covariates
**nintcovs**: number of intercepts
**nTrapsOp**: number of traps operating in each primary period
**TrapsOp**: array with a vector of trap numbers operating
**date**: centered date for week
**date2**: centered date^2 for week
**...