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A comment on 75% decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas. Parent comment

Re:75% decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass ... by stevekemp on Thursday October 19, 2017 @04:45AM (#15506403)
>that leaves the red squirrels with no food supplies to get through the winter and so they starve.

Things with squirrels are a bit more complex. While the two species do fight over the same resource, the main reason for the decline of red squirrels is disease.

The grey squirrels carry squirrel-pox, which can be fatal to the reds. That's always the explanation I've heard cited for the decline in red squirrels in the UK at least:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel_parapoxvirus

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Re:75% decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass ... by freeflight on Thursday October 19, 2017 @08:13AM (#15507203)
I think it's a combination of a number of factors. It's still really fascinating to me how the grey squirrel's survival tactic pretty much seems like it's built on exploiting the survival tactic of the red squirrels.

I wonder if the grey squirrels adapted this behavior because of previous encounters with red squirrels, displacing them in the process, or if it's just "bad luck" for the red squirrels to run into grey squirrels who just happen to perfectly counter their survival tactics?

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