Gray squirrels live in wooded areas with dense vegetation that provide food and shelter. They depend on trees for food like nuts, acorns, and bark. Squirrels will also live near humans in parks and backyards if there are trees. Squirrels begin reproducing at one year old, giving birth to litters of 2-3 blind, hairless pups twice a year. They live on average 6 years in wooded areas but less in urban areas with threats like cars. Overpopulation affects all animals by reducing available food.

1. Hadleigh Nair, Biology II Honors, Period 5

3. Gray Squirrels live in places of dense woodland. The forests they live in normally have dense vegetation that provide food and shelter. Squirrels will also live near humans in urban or rural environments. They can be found in parks, backyards, and on farms, as long as there are trees and a sufficient food source Squirrels depend on trees mostly for food. Trees provide nuts and bark for the squirrels to eat. Animals that depend on squirrels for food are raccoons, weasels, hawks, coyotes, owls, most local carnivores eat squirrels. Squirrels eat many different types of food. For the most part they are herbivores and eat thinks like seeds, acorns, walnuts, fungi. Occasionally, if desperate they will insects, frogs, small birds and their eggs. Squirrels being mostly herbivores do not hunt prey they do however hunt for things like seeds and bark.

4. Squirrels begin to reproduce after they are one year old Twice a year a litter is born, one in early Spring and one in late Summer The gestation period is 44 to 46 days An average of two to three babies that are blind and hairless make a litter. The mother also known as a doe, prepares before her young is born by creating a nest in a hollow tree using dry leaves After birth the doe will stay alone caring for her pups, one they have grown more they will start to leave the nest and explore around outside, preparing for life. The male offspring matures faster than the females and leaves before the females

5. In most cases gray squirrels are the prey, occasionaly they may become the predator to insects, frogs, or small birds. Gray squirrels live on average 6 years. Though the areas where they live can affect this. In the woods there’s more of a chance to live. If they live in more urban areas with cars and people they may not live long at all. List and describe any common parasites which may harm your assigned animal. Over-population affects all animals the same way. If there are too many animals, there’s not enough food to go around. Eventually on the strongest, smartest animals will be able to find food and survive. Those who can not access food will die and lower the population so that the environment can sustain its life.

6. . Producer Autotroph Primary Consumer Omnivore Secondary Consumer Carnivore Tertiary Consumer Omnivore

7. Producer Producer Omnivore Omnivore Omnivore Herbivore Herbivore Carnivore Parasite Decomposers

8. The most popular technique is population sampling is mark and recapture. The first step is to catch the animal and mark them. Then go to the same area and capture animals again. Then take the information and put it into a formula of the number of the first captured animals x the number of animals captured the second time, the number of marked animals caught the second time. Capture squirrels in a certain area and mark them with a tag or foot band. Release these squirrels and go to the same area after some time and capture squirrels again. Then put numbers into the formula.

9. The graph represents that Powdermill Run is healthy stream Class I organisms can not handle a lot of pollution so large number of Class I indicates a healthy stream. Class II organisms can survive in a small amount of pollution so a large number of these indicates that the stream is not very healthy but no very polluted. Class III organisms can handle a large amount of pollution so high number of these organisms imply a unhealthy stream. A healthy stream provides healthy trees and food for squirrels. When a stream is healthy organisms that depend on the stream are healthy. Everything that eats those organisms are then healthy too, If there were many Class III organisms the gray squirrel would not be able to eat healthy seeds and bark and would itself not be healthy

10. An ideal healthy stream would have very little nitrates and phosphates, the pH would be 7, there would be level of dissolved oxygen 10 or higher. A gray squirrel living near the stream would survive the best where food would be readily available. If it lived near the marsh it might be ok because they plants would grow bigger because of the extra nitrates providing more food. Living near the mine the squirrel would be affects by the low pH because the water and surrounding plants would be unhealthy and the squirrel would eat unhealthy food and become unhealthy. When it comes to temperature neither high nor low is wanted. If the water is too cold it will freeze and organisms can not live there. The same goes if it is too high, organisms can’t live in a stream that is very hot. The water and oxygen would evaporate and at some point the water would eventually disappear.

11. pH is important because it tells how acidic or alkaline the soil is . Ideally it would be 7. Describe the importance of pH, potash, phosphorus, & nitrogen levels in the soil. The ideal range of pH is 7, nitrates at trace, phosphorus at trace, and potash at higher level. Too acidic soil can inhibit plant growth and the same if the soil is too alkaline. Too much phosporus and nitrogen can make the plants grow too much.

12. The organisms that squirrels eat depend on water to grow, because they are plants. If squirrels Unhealthy soil means unhealthy plants or no plants at all. A squirrel eats plants and if there are unhealthy plants, the squirrel becomes unhealthy and may die. If there are no plants the squirrel would either die or have to migrate to an area that has food for it. Describe factors that positively and negatively affect the riparian ecosystem. You should include common sources of pollution of PA streams and stress how to conserve and preserve the riparian habitat. Include in the description how these factors might affect the assigned organism .

13. I learned that everything depends on something else. If one of those beginning organisms die or are unhealthy it affects the entire food chain and harms many more organisms. I found it interesting that squirrels can swim. I would possibly like to research the affects of pollution. It’s a very talked about issue in today’s world and it would be interesting to learn more about it.

14. http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/eastern_gray_squirrel.htm http://www.blackmouthcur.com/Gray%20Squirrels.htm http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/eastern_gray_squirrel.htm http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/pictures/Sciurus_carolinensis.html http://www.enature.com/flashcard/show_flash_card.asp?recordNumber=MA0118