Almond consumption by Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758) in Montes de Málaga Natural Park (south of Spain)

Abstract

We studied the consumption of almonds by Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in a nature park in southern Spain where the species coexists with the crop. For two years, we collected weekly samples of almonds consumed by the species and analyzed its spatial and temporal patterns. We also compared almonds consumed with the production of the crop to assess possible damages. The results reveal a marked seasonal pattern of almond consumption, which begins in mid-June, peaks in mid-July and declines towards the beginning of the harvest season in early October. The mean number of almonds consumed was 1.3 ± 0.4 almonds/m2, and consumption was restricted to a 20-metre-wide band in the ecotone of the pine forest to the crop. We appreciate that this amount of consumption is insignificant when compared to the crop production in large cultivation plots, but the damage may be important in small ones. We discuss different hypotheses (edge effect and refuge-distance effect) to explain why almond consumption occurs only in the ecotone. Finally, we propose almonds consumption as a new presence index of this species in areas where red squirrels coexist with the crop. Keywords: almond tree, crop damage, feeding, pine forest.