Date of Submission

Spring 2023

Academic Program

Biology

Project Advisor 1

Felicia Keesing

Project Advisor 2

Patricia Kaishian

Abstract/Artist's Statement

In North America, there are two species of flying squirrels; Northern Flying Squirrel and Southern Flying Squirrel. Both of these species are very fast, only awake at night and good at hiding. Because of this, there is only a small amount of research done on them. These squirrels are a useful species for finding out how healthy a forest is. Their diets and the forest types that they depend on are excellent measures of a healthy environment. The studies that have been conducted on them have found that using camera traps and ultrasonic recordings of their calls are both safe and non-intrusive ways to find these squirrels in forests. Ultrasonic acoustics are sounds that humans cannot hear. The squirrels emit these sounds to converse with each other about danger, available food, or when to come back to the nest. In my study I used ultrasonic recordings to determine whether or not there are flying squirrels of either species in the Annandale-on-Hudson area. I also asked whether flying squirrels are more likely to be trapped in groups or individually. To answer this question, I used already collected data to run tests. The flying squirrel is an important component of forest health because of their diet of fungus. They are also a source of food for forest dwelling predators. By studying flying squirrels, we can better understand how to conserve the species and in turn help to sustain healthy forest ecosystems.

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On-Campus only

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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