Eastern chimpunks (Tamias striatus) in deciduous forests of eastern townships

Multidisciplinary and collaborative project on chipmunk population dynamic, genetic, behaviour, physiology, and habitat selection under natural resource variations.
Field sites close to Mansonville, in Ruiter Valley and Montagnes Vertes area.
Field sites in mature, open, hardwood forest dominated by American beech and sugar maple trees.
Multi-year trapping records.
Hardwood trees and herbaceous plants sampling.
Seed production sampling.
Soil temperature sampling.

Data holder(s)

Data collector(s)

Funding source(s)

FQRNT NSERC

Dataset format

Excel and Access databases

Number of sites

4

Site description

Mature open forest dominated by American beech and sugar maple trees with trout lilies and claytonias as the most common herbaceous plants. Sites are located in similar forested habitats within a 5-km radius, where exploratory trapping showed sufficient chipmunk abundance.

Habitat

Mature open forest dominated by American beech and sugar maple trees with trout lilies and claytonias as the most common herbaceous plants interspersed with small creeks.

Environment

Terrestrial

Taxa studied

Tamias striatus; Fagus grandifolia; Acer saccharum; Acer rubrum

Taxonomic information

Mammals, Vascular plants

Taxonomic details

Latin name	English name	French name
Tamias striatus	Eastern Chipmunk	tamia rayé
Fagus grandifolia	American beech
Acer saccharum	sugar maple
Acer rubrum	red maple

Study design

Complete population census by systematic and targeted trapping from May to August. Systematic seed production, hardwood trees, herbaceous plants, and soil temperature sampling.

Study status

Ongoing

Sampling approaches

Direct visual observation (e.g. fieldwork), Passive sampling (e.g. insect or mammal traps)

Study goals

Individual level (e.g. behaviour, physiology, autecology), Community level (e.g. richness, distribution, composition), Population/species level (e.g. systematic study), Complete inventory, Partial inventory, Single species

Frequency of sampling

On going data collection.

First year of data collection

2005

Last year of data collection

2012

Complete Publication List in peer reviewed journals (ordered alphabetically by first author’s last name):
Bergeron, P., Réale, D., Humphries, M.M. & Garant, D. 2011. Anticipation and tracking of pulsed resources drive population dynamics in eastern chipmunks. Ecology, 92 (11): 2027-2034.

Bergeron, P., Careau, V., Humphries, M.M., Réale, D., Speakman, J.R. & Garant, D. 2011. The energetic and oxidative costs of reproduction in a free-ranging rodent. Functional Ecology, 25: 1063-1071.

Bergeron, P., Réale, D., Humphries, M.M. & Garant, D. 2011. Evidence of multiple paternity and selection for inbreeding avoidance in wild eastern chipmunks. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 24: 1685-1694.

Bergeron, P., Baeta, R., Pelletier, F., Réale, D. & Garant, D. 2011. Individual quality: tautology or biological reality? Journal of Animal Ecology, 80: 361-364.

Careau V, Réale D, Garant D, Speakman, JR & Humphries. In press. Stress-induced rise in body temperature is repeatable in free-ranging Eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus). Journal of Comparative Physiology B.

Careau V., D. Réale, D. Garant, and M.M. Humphries. In press. Free-ranging eastern chipmunks infected with bot fly larvae have higher resting but lower maximum metabolism. Canadian Journal of Zoology.

Careau V, Thomas D, Pelletier F, Turki L, Landry F, Garant D & D Réale. 2011. Genetic correlation between resting metabolic rate and exploratory behaviour in deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). Journal of Evolutionary Biology, doi : 10.1111/ j . 1 4 20-9101 . 2 01 1 . 0 2344. x

Careau, V., D. Réale, M.M. Humphries, D.W. Thomas. 2010. The pace of life under artificial selection: personality, energy expenditure, and longevity are correlated in domestic dogs. American Naturalist, 175:753-758.

Careau V, Thomas D & MM Humphries. 2010. Energetic cost of bot fly parasitism in free-ranging eastern chipmunks. Oecologia, 162:303-312.

Careau V, Bininda-Edmonds ORP, Thomas D, Réale D & MM Humphries. 2009. Exploration strategies map along fast-slow metabolic and life-history continua in muroid rodents. Functional Ecology, 23:150-156.

Careau V, Thomas D, Humphries, MM & D Réale. 2008. Energy Metabolism and Animal Personality. Oikos, 117: 641-653.

Chambers, J.L. and D. Garant. 2010. Determinants of population genetic structure in eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus): the role of landscape barriers and sex-biased dispersal. Journal of Heredity, 101: 413-422.

Landry-Cuerrier M., D. Munro, D.W. Thomas and M.M. Humphries. 2008. Climate and resource determinants of fundamental and realized metabolic niches of hibernating chipmunks. Ecology, 89:3306-3316.

LaZerte, S.E. and D.L. Kramer. 2011. Using thermosensitive radiotelemetry to document rest and activity in a semifossorial rodent. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 35: 481–488.

Montiglio P.-O., F. Pelletier, D. Garant, R. Palme, D. Réale and R. Boonstra. In press. Non-invasive monitoring of fecal cortisol metabolites in the eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus): validation and comparison of two enzyme immunoassays. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.

Montiglio P.-O., D. Garant, D.W. Thomas and D. Réale. 2010. Individual variation in temporal activity patterns in open-field tests. Animal Behaviour, 80: 905-912.

Réale, D., D. Garant, M.M. Humphries, P. Bergeron, V. Careau, P.O. Montiglio, D.W. Thomas. 2010. Personality and the emergence of a pace-of-life syndrome at the level of the population. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B., 365:4051-4063.