Squirrel Hologenomics

The red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) is one of the most widespread rodent species in Eurasia, with a geographic distribution that spans from the Atlantic coast in Europe to Japan. While being the dominant tree-dwelling rodent in the continent, in certain areas in Italy and the British Islands populations have undergone drastic drops due to anthropic introductions and subsequent colonisation of key squirrel habitats by the Eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), native to North America. Grey squirrels display a more versatile ecology than red squirrels in terms of social behaviour and dietary breadth, yet little is known how the microbiome affects these interactions. In this project we are analysing dozens of native populations of both species, as well as a range of allotonic populations of grey squirrel in Europe, to better understand the reasons why Eastern grey squirrels are able to oust their Eurasian counterparts in their native ranges.