Natal dispersal of juvenile arctic ground squirrels in the boreal forest

Natal dispersal is assumed to be costly because of the risk of mortality, y et rarely are movement patterns and survival of dispersers observed directl y. We determined the fates and dispersal distances of 150 radio-collared ju venile arctic ground squirrels from 1993 to 1995 at Kluane, Yukon Territory , Canada (61 degrees N, 138 degrees W). We tested the hypothesis that dispe rsal has a high mortality cost, and we also attempted to distinguish among three hypotheses to explain natal dispersal: competition for mates, competi tion for resources, and inbreeding avoidance. Juveniles were radio-collared at emergence from the natal burrow on five 9-ha grids nested within larger (1 km(2)) experimental manipulations: two controls, a predator exclosure, a food-supplemented grid, and a predator exclosure + food grid. In all year s and on all areas, dispersing juveniles were more likely to die than philo patric squirrels, and the risk of mortality increased with distance from th e natal burrow for both sexes. Overall, survival of philopatric squirrels w as 73%, whereas survival of dispersing squirrels ranged from a maximum of 4 0% to a minimum of 25%. Juvenile females were strongly philopatric independ ent of population density, except on the predator exclosure + food grid in 1995, where population density was extremely high and resources other than food were probably limiting. Resource competition may explain patterns of p hilopatry and dispersal in female arctic ground squirrels. Juvenile males m oved farther from their natal site than females and more of them died. Male s also had a strong tendency to disperse that was independent of food avail ability or population density, which suggests that male arctic ground squir rels ultimately may disperse to avoid either inbreeding with female relativ es or intrasexual competition for mates.