Dispersal of the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis)

Dispersal is common in mammals and can have an important role in shaping demography, genetics, distribution, and social structure. Dispersal entails potential costs but also potential benefits, and the dispersal decision is thought to be conditional; the potential disperser assesses prospects for success at its current location and disperses to improve its fitness. However, the costs and benefits of dispersal, as well as factors influencing the dispersal decision, are not well known. We used trapping and observation to study dispersal in the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis), a species for which dispersal is largely unknown. We characterized the dispersal process by evaluating dispersal timing and distance, assessed factors that might influence the dispersal decision, and analyzed the fitness cost of dispersal after settlement. We found that most dispersal occurred during the summer of birth, as is expected for a small-bodied sciurid. However, some squirrels delayed dispersal until early in their yearling summer. Dispersal was male-biased in dispersal tendency, and it was also male-biased in dispersal distance, but only over shorter dispersal distances. The dispersal decision for juvenile females appeared to originate as soon as 10 days after they emerged from the natal burrow, and the decision was not associated with body mass or several measures of competition. Instead, dispersal of juvenile females was associated with the number of littermate sisters, with each sister present increasing the likelihood of dispersal by 26%. Littermate sisters might be a cue foretelling the effects of kin competition the following year. We did not find a significant difference in lifetime reproductive success between philopatric and dispersing females after settlement, suggesting that for golden-mantled ground squirrels, any cost of dispersal is experienced primarily during the transience phase.