Background about Red Squirrels from The Mammal Society:Red squirrels have been driven to near extinction by a combination of disease and competition with the European grey squirrel. Research by The Mammal Society has found that as many as a quarter of mammals native to the UK are at risk of ...
squirrels are Britain’s only native species of squirrel, and you used to see them all over the country. But then in the 14th and 15th centuries, the demand for wood saw the timber industry grow and their habitat seriously threatened. That’s when their population first started to decline....
However, recent evidence suggests that the rate of population decline is enhanced by squirrelpox disease, caused by a viral infection carried asymptomatically by grey squirrels but to which red squirrels are highly susceptible. Population genetic diversity provides some resilience to rapidly evolving or...
According to Meredith and colleagues, the red squirrel population in the U.K. is down to about 140,000, decimated by habitat loss, squirrel poxvirus and competition with more than 2.5 million gray squirrels introduced from North America. Meredith and colleagues said it was unclear whether leprosy...
The red squirrel, an omnivore found throughout Eurasia, has experienced a dramatic population decline in recent years. In 2007, just 25,000 could be found throughout the UK after a one-time high of 3.5 million. This is often due to the fact that their grey cousins have a larger appetite...
Although reds continue to thrive in Potter's Lake District, they have been wiped out of most of England and Wales by the inexorable march of the greys. Today, the UK's red squirrel population is estimated at around 140,000, the vast majority of those in Scotland. By contrast, grey squi...
Genomic characterization of a novel poxvirus contributing to the decline of the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in the UK The genome of a virulent squirrelpox virus (SQPV) isolate was characterized in order to determine its relationship with other poxviruses. Restriction enzym... McInnes,J C. ...
The red squirrel, found throughout Eurasia, has experienced a great population reduction in recent years. In 2007, just 25,000 could be found throughout the UK after a one-time high of 3.5 million. This is often because of the fact that their grey cousins have a larger appetite (食欲) ...
Immigration or emigration via connected habitat with later re-colonisation may be restricted or not possible and pathogenic disease impact magnified, increasing population loss risk compared to extensive habitat populations. In the United Kingdom (UK), both squirrelpox virus (SQPV) and adenovirus (...
Steury TD, Murray DL (2003) Causes and consequences of individual variation in territory size in the American red squirrel. Oikos 101:147–156 Article Google Scholar Sutherland WJ (1996) From individual behaviour to population ecology. Oxford University Press, Oxford Google Scholar Svensson E, ...