Home range, habitat use, nesting ecology and diet of the northern flying squirrel in southern New Brunswick

The northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus (Shaw)) was studied in southern New Brunswick from May 1993 to November 1994. Home range, habitat use, and nesting ecology were examined using radio telemetry. Diet was determined through faecal analysis and observation.;Median size of home ranges determined for eight female and seven male northern flying squirrels were 2.75 and 12.49 ha, respectively. Male home ranges overlapped other male and female ranges while female home ranges showed little or no overlap with other females. Males with large home ranges would have greater access to mates. The small size of female home ranges may be attributed to higher quality foraging habitat.;Within home ranges, high use sites had significantly larger trees, larger snags, lower density of trees, greater structural diversity, and a more decayed structural composition than low use sites. Nest trees and snags were significantly larger than available trees and snags. These observations indicate selection for older forest characteristics.;Four distinct nest types were identified from observations of 153 nests: ground, outside, natural cavity, and woodpecker. The percentage of radio-tagged flying squirrels using ground nests and the percentage aggregating in nests increased significantly with decreasing mean monthly temperature; this is apparently related to the thermo-regulatory requirements of winter survival. Large cavity trees were important as aggregation and natal nest sites (median dbh of 41.5 cm and 41.2 cm respectively).;Microscopic examination of 150 faecal samples revealed that 95% contained hypogeous fungal spores. This further illustrates the importance of this food source to the species. Other food items consumed included seeds (yellow and white birch), beech nuts, lichens, epigeous fungi (terrestrial and arboreal), berries, insects, buds, catkins and spruce cones.