An American Invasion of Great Britain: The Case of the Native and Alien Squirrel (Sciurus) Species

Abstract

Abstract: The invasion of Great Britain by the gray squirrel from America has posed many interesting problems in ecology and conservation (interactions with the native red squirrel) and in forest management (the gray squirrel severely damages young stands of deciduous trees). Since 1973, mapped data on the annual distribution of the two species in state‐managed forests have been published by the Forestry Commission.Using the established methodology of annual ornithological index numbers, series of index numbers have been calculated to show the distributional dynamics of the two species. In Great Britain as a whole there has been rather limited change over the 15‐year period from 1973. However, this masks (1) the dramatic distributional decline in the red squirrel in Wales balanced by a modest expansion in Scotland, and (2) the substantial distributional increase in the gray squirrel in the small number of grid squares in Scotland in comparison with the relatively steady distribution in the large number of grid squares in England.A new index, measuring the annual replacement of one species by the other species, indicates little overall change in England and Scotland, but a net advance of the gray squirrel in Wales. A series of Markovian matrices predicted that the red squirrel would persist in forests in Scotland and in some areas of England, but would be rare in Wales. Over Great Britain as a whole, the gray squirrel is likely to occur in about twice as many forest areas as the red squirrel.