The Squirrel-Conifer-Fungi Connection

The evolutionary divergence of the northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) from the southern flying squirrel (G. volans) is an excellent example of speciation resulting from environmental change.  Genetic studies suggest both of these American species of flying squirrels diverged from Eurasian flying squirrels between 4-6 million years ago.  Eurasian flying squirrels are much more diverse and include 44 species, most of which live in southeast Asia–evidence this part of the world is where they originally evolved.  During the late Miocene about 5 million years ago, a forested landbridge connected Asia with America, explaining how the ancestor of both American species of flying squirrels colonized this continent.  Genetic evidence suggests the 2 American species of flying squirrels diverged from each other early during the Pleistocene between 1-2 million years ago when Ice Ages began to become more severe.  Boreal spruce forests expanded during Ice Ages, growing as far south as middle Georgia and Alabama.  In the middle south spruce forests grew in higher elevations while deciduous oak forests still occurred in adjacent lower elevation.  Oak forests are rich in mast such as acorns and nuts, but spruce forests offer less food for squirrels–seeds from spruce cones are only available for 2 months of the year.  However, underground fungi, also known as truffles, are available year round in spruce forests.  For most species of squirrels, fungi is a minor component of their diet, but truffles and other fungi make up 85% of the northern flying squirrel’s diet whereas southern flying squirrels eat more acorns, nuts, berries, and animal matter.  The ancestors of the northern flying squirrel were those individuals from the parent population best able to subsist on a diet of mostly fungi.  These individuals were able to colonize spruce forests, while the rest of the parent population remained in oak forests.  Eventually, this habitat partition resulted in a divergence between the 2 American species.

Northern flying squirrels eat mostly fungi which is a minor component in most squirrel’s diet.  The ability to subsist on a diet of mostly fungi enabled this species to colonize spruce forests.  Eventually, they evolved into a different species than southern flying squirrels because of this capability.

Elaphomyces or truffle–favorite food of the northern flying squirrel.

 

 

Red spruce (Picea rubens).  Red spruce, truffles, and northern flying squirrels are beneficial and interdependent to each other.

Fossils of both species of flying squirrels have been found at Ladds and Kingston Saltpeter Cave in Bartow County, Georgia.  This is evidence that patches of spruce forest grew near patches of oak forest in this region during some climatic stages of the Pleistocene.  Northern flying squirrels are confined to the former; southern flying squirrels require the latter.

There is an interesting ecological interdependence between northern flying squirrels, red spruce, and several species of fungi.  Truffles grow intertwined with the red spruce roots, and they exchange nutrients.  The squirrels eat the truffles and spread their spores throughout the forest in their droppings.  A healthy spruce forest requires an abudance of truffles.  Many red spruce forests have been logged, and without the squirrel’s help, trees such as oak, maple, beech, and cherry are replacing them.  In West Virginia the U.S. Forest Service has successfully re-established red spruce forests.  Foresters discovered that red spruce seedling grow best in ground ripped apart by bulldozers and strewn with woody debris.  Some of these young spruce forests are on land reclaimed from strip mining. 

 

Fox squirrel.  This species may play a role in distributing fungi in longleaf pine savannah. 

Rhizopogon nigrescens–a fungi common to longleaf pine savannahs and likely an item in the diet of the fox squirrel.

Virgin stand of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) in east Texas (circa 1908).

Although fox squirrels (Scirius niger) have a much more varied diet than northern flying squirrels, they occasionally eat fungi and may play a role in the health of longleaf pine savannahs.  Certain kinds of fungi that grow in the soil of savannahs also exchange nutrients with longleaf pine trees, and fox squirrels spread these spores in their dung as well.  Fox squirrels and longleaf pine savannahs were formerly common in the south, particularly on the coastal plain, but today both are rare.  The changes man has wrought have really sickened the natural communites of the world.

Reference:

Arbogast, Brian

“A Brief History of the New World Flying Squirrel: Phylogeny, Biogeography, and Conservation Genetics”

Journal of Mammalogy 88 (4) 2008

The Similar Affinities of the Brown-headed and Pygmy Nuthatches

The brown-headed nuthatch (Sitta pusilla) and the pygmy nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea) both descend from a common ancestor that used to range all across the North American continent.  Now, the former inhabits the southeast, while the latter lives in disjunct populations scattered across the southwest.  They are similar in size, appearance, and habitat preference.  The pygmy nuthatch has a darker brown cap than the brown-headed nuthatch, and its tail has white spots not found on its cousin, but otherwise they are physically identical.  Both favor mature pine forests prone to frequent fire.

Brown-headed nuthatch in its usual position, perched upside down on  a tree trunk.  They live in mature southern pine forests and originally were abundant in long leaf pine savannahs.

Range map of a brown-headed nuthatch.  I suspect the average abundance figures on this map are misleading.  They are probably more abundant on the coastal plain than the piedmont, but more people live in the piedmont and report seeing them there.

Pygmy nuthatches live in Ponderosa pine forests out west.

Range map of the pygmy nuthatch.

Fossil evidence of a small forest-dwelling bird, such as a nuthatch, is understandably scarce, yet does exist.  The oldest fossil specimen from the Sitta genus dates to early in the Miocene (~23 million years ago) and was excavated in France.  In North America 2 specimens of nuthatches dating to the middle Pleistocene (~600,000 BP) were found in Porcupine Cave, Colorado.  One was positively identified as the still extant white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis).  Brown-headed nuthatches and pygmy nuthatches became geographically isolated from each other during the latter stages of the Pleistocene.  A desert scrub and grassland corridor existed during the early and middle Pleistocene that linked southeastern North America with the west.  During some undetermined time in the mid to late Pleistocene ecological changes closed this pathway for some species.  Like burrowing owls and Florida scrub jays, brown-headed nuthatches became isolated from their western populations.  In the cases of the jays and the nuthatches, speciation occurred between the eastern and western populations.  As far as I know, no attempt has ever been made to see if these 2 species of nuthatches would interbreed in captivity.  I bet they could.

Ponderosa pine forests were reduced to 2 refuges durng the Last Glacial Maximum when they were displaced by spruce forests.  Studies of pygmy nuthatch genetics suggests they only survived in 1 of the refuges.

Nuthatches are smart birds that use chips of bark to probe for insects burrowing in wood.  Seeds are also an important part of their diet.  Family groups usually consist of a male, female, and a male offspring who helps take care of the nestlings.  The annual survival rate is about 70%.  The brown-headed nuthatch has an outlying population in the Bahamas where it lives in Carribbean pine forests.  Prospects for survival there are doubtful because developers are going to eliminate all of the pine forests, none of which are protected by nature preserves.

I’ve never seen a brown-headed nuthatch, though supposedly they range into Augusta, Georgia.  However, I did see a white-breasted nuthatch at the Silverbluff Audubon Center in Silverbluff, South Carolina.  See https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/the-silver-bluff-audubon-center/