Diets of northern Idaho ground squirrels and cattle at two sites in Adams County, Idaho in 2008

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More extensive data on the diet of the northern Idaho ground squirrel is needed for recovery and management. It is important to know which plant species are important in the diet to insure they are included in seeding mixes for habitat restoration. Also, because cattle and ground squirrels are both herbivores, it is generally believed they compete, although in reality this is unknown. Thus it is important to know if grazing is harmful to ground squirrel recovery efforts. Resource managers and livestock operators would like a definitive answer to this question. This study was undertaken to gather additional information on the diet of the northern Idaho ground squirrel at two sites not used in Dyni and Yensen’s (1996) dietary study. This study is the first to examine dietary overlap between cattle and northern Idaho ground squirrels. It is intended as a pilot study for a more extensive investigation of the relationships between northern Idaho ground squirrel diets and habitat condition and livestock diets. The two sites studied in 2008 were on the Payette National Forest. Results of analyses, as for Dyni and Yensen (1996), indicated no correlation between the abundance of a plant species in the diet and its abundance in the habitat, suggesting that ground squirrels are selective in their diet.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology

SWAP (2/19/2016) citation:
Yensen E, Tarifa T, Stitt R, Bond P, Evans Mack D. 2010. Diets of northern Idaho ground squirrels and cattle at two sites in Adams County, Idaho in 2008. McCall (ID): Idaho Department of Fish and Game. 21 p.