Ontario’s Flying Squirrels

Monday, October 24 @ 7:30 pm

Ontario has two species of flying squirrel, the northern and southern flying squirrels, that have experienced recent range overlap and the formation of a hybrid zone associated with climate warming. Research has been carried out on the ecology and evolution of flying squirrels in Ontario’s hybrid zone since 2002, and I will present recent findings. I will also discuss the interesting natural history of these species including social thermoregulation, mycophagy, use of ultrasound, and UV fluorescence.

Dr. Jeff Bowman is a Senior Research Scientist with the Wildlife Research and Monitoring Section of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, and an Adjunct Professor in the Environmental and Life sciences Graduate Program at Trent University. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of New Brunswick in 1999, and has been with MNRF since August 2001. Jeff leads Ontario’s furbearer and small mammal research programs, and has expertise in population and landscape ecology, genetics, and disease ecology. He has conducted research on many species and ecosystems, including work on fishers, martens, lynx, wolverines, mink, wild turkeys, flying squirrels, and a variety of bat species. He has led the long-term Kawartha Flying Squirrel Project since 2002.
Web page: https://bowmanecology.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @jeffcbowman