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Introduction With the rapid growth of the American population and the greater demand for work,

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Introduction With the rapid growth of the American population and the greater demand for work, large urban areas developed throughout the U.S. landscape. Urbanization, as it is called, is the replacement of the rural areas with more urban ones. Urbanization has impacted human behavior and wildlife as well and most likely won’t be ending anytime soon as humanity continues to push into wildlife habitats. As relative keepers of the environment, humans need to understand the impacts of urbanization on the environment and ecosystem as a whole (Warren et al. 2006). These characteristics are exhibited in urban squirrel (Sciurus carolinensi) populations.
Squirrels have been able to adapt fairly well in response to urbanization and are one of …show more content…

Although the number of young born per litter was found to be equal between urban and rural squirrels, the survival of the young was higher among urban squirrels.
Urban populations tend to exhibit “clumped dispersion patterns”, meaning that individuals in a population are in closer proximity to each other than would be expected at random. Experts believe that this is a direct result of clumped food sources in urban settings, which attract large groups of individuals to a single, common location. Urban heat islands, metropolitan areas which are significantly warmer than their surroundings, also induce behavioral changes in many wild species. The creation of these warmer environments can lengthen breeding seasons. Urban wildlife is becoming more domesticated; due to increased human interaction in urban areas, most squirrels are not even startled by the presence of humans anymore.
Since their size allows them to be seen easily, their habitats are readily observable, and they are found in abundance, squirrels are excellent test subjects in urban and rural settings. In addition to this, they follow a daily cycle that coincides with humans, adapt quickly, and are easily identified by experts and novices alike. The purpose of my study is to find out if there is a difference in open view foraging behavior across the urban-rural gradient. I am focusing specifically on the number of squirrels

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