SNRE Seminar: “A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”: the invasive grey squirrel in the UK

Title: "A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court": the invasive grey squirrel in the UK, a case of disease mediated-competition with the native European red squirrel

Date: 4/15/2011
Time: 12:00-1:00
Place: BSE 225
Speaker: Peter Lurz, University of Newcastle upon Tyne-Centre for Life Sciences Modelling

Abstract:
The North American grey squirrel is one of the most widely travelled tree squirrels in the world. It has been translocated beyond its natural range on the eastern seaboard, across the North American continent as far as Vancouver Island in Canada and California in the US. It was transported to Australia, South Africa, Italy, and released in the UK and Ireland. In Northern Italy, from Lombardy and Piedmont, it is currently spreading north and westwards and will soon arrive in Switzerland and France. The grey squirrel has been so successful in its adopted European and North American habitats, that it is listed by the IUCN as one of the 100 worst invasive alien species in the world. Originally, in the UK, this was not an unwanted intruder digging up bulbs in flower beds or building nests in lofts. It was ‘a captured guest’ that was first introduced to Henbury Park in Cheshire in 1876. The arrival of the grey squirrel in the British Isles, unlike some other alien species, was therefore not part of a natural process, but the result of human whim and a desire to show off a novelty. This highly successful member of the tree squirrel family exemplifies our complex relationship with some non-native species and highlights the role of public perception and behaviour on the success of these species that colonise not just remote woodlands and forests but also make our gardens and our parks their home.

Bio: Dr. P.W.W. Lurz, is a research associate at Newcastle University. His research focuses on animal and especially mammal behaviour, ecology and conservation. He is particularly interested in how animals use space and how Geographic Information Systems and populations dynamics models can be used as tools to investigate space use and to derive management recommendations or conservation advice. He has published more than two dozen peer-reviewed papers on squirrel biology, conservation, and management.

For more information about Dr. Lurz, see -
http://research.ncl.ac.uk/clsm/people/peter_lurz/pwwlurz.htm - AND - http://www.ncl.ac.uk/biology/staff/profile/p.w.w.lurz