Researchers at University of Manitoba find connection between ground squirrels and climate change

Ground squirrels and climate change, how are these two things connected?

University of Manitoba researchers have found a link between the two subjects and it has to do with the rodents' feet and sperm.

Miya Warrington and Jane Waterman, two researchers at the U of M, recently discovered some male Richardson's ground squirrels came out of hibernation during a warm winter and they had non-motile sperm.

The researchers said this was caused by the warmer-than-normal temperatures which caused the ground squirrels to end hibernation early.

Despite "shooting blanks" out of hibernation, the researchers said it didn't impact the number of young that were born this time.

"It could have gone badly. You could've had a year of not having as many young," said Warrington in an interview with CTV News.

However, this discovery led the researchers to look at ground squirrels in Africa.

Waterman has run a research project in South Africa on a population of Cape ground squirrels and had already compiled data on the animals over the years.

The researchers found the temperatures had risen by more than two degrees over the last 20 years where the ground squirrels were living and as a result, they noticed the rodents now have larger feet and smaller bodies.

The larger feet and smaller bodies help the animals cool down faster in the hot climate.

Warrington said these changes may seem small and not overly significant but it is something to keep an eye on.

"The thing about (ground squirrels), they are ecosystem engineers. So, these little ground squirrels, they create these burrows in clusters across the grasslands. And this actually contributes to the diversity of other animals there," said Warrington. "So if these guys even start changing how they behave, as well as their foot size and social behaviours, you could see changes in the ecosystem."

Warrington said they don't know yet if these changes can be classified as good or bad but there are several scenarios that they could speculate on.

"Maybe they are cooling down, but maybe it affects their ability to run away from predators...the other thing is if bodies are getting smaller, does that mean burrows are going to get smaller and change the landscape a bit, and what animals can use it. We don't know some of this stuff, but it's all things to think about because they are changing their environment just by being there. Anything that affects them could potentially affect the rest of the ecosystem."

She said people don't ignore the fatal impacts of climate change such as large wildfires or flooding, but added we can't ignore the non-lethal impacts either, like ground squirrel feet size, saying these seemingly little impacts now could lead to larger effects in the future.

"I think when we really think about these small effects, I think it's just to be mindful that these effects are occurring. Don't ignore them and just say, 'We're only going to look at the big things, only big things matter.' The small ones, they're indicators that something is going on."

The findings of Waterman and Warrington were published in the Journal of Mammalogy.