PMC

Permanent rebar posts marked the edges of 10 x 10 m quadrats in each cell. Quadrats in which the annual species surveys were conducted are delineated in grey and identified with odd numbers. Analyses were conducted at the level of whole cells and by zone. The “central” zone (quadrats inside the dotted line) has no adjacency to upland regions (quadrats 5, 8, 11, and 14). The “edge” zone contains or is bordered by upland terrain outside of the cell (all remaining quadrats). The “deep” zone encompasses regions containing deeper water (quadrats 1–12), while the “shallow” zone is comprised of regions that were seasonally dry (quadrats 13–18).

Quadrat survey. (A,B): Quadrats in ‘Avrona nature reserve 2014 oil-spill area, (C,D): Quadrats in ‘Avrona nature reserve 1975 oil-spill area. (A,C): Quadrats with Sahastata burrow (18 quadrats), (B,D) No-burrow quadrats (20 quadrats). Pictures: Assaf Uzan.

No P. planipes occurred in null quadrats, whereas positive quadrats are those in which at least one P. planipes was observed.

Difference in frequency between genera in summer fecal samples compared to all vegetation quadrats and summer fecal samples compared to MCP vegetation quadrats. Bars less than zero represent genera that were found more frequently in the vegetation quadrats (environment) compared to the fecal samples (diet) (i.e., those that squirrels may have avoided). We did not include Pinus because they were not assessed in the vegetation quadrats. Forb genera are in shades of purple and grass genera are shades of green. We used chi‐square tests to determine whether there was a significant difference between percent of each genera within fecal samples versus percent of each genera within either all vegetation quadrats or MCP vegetation quadrats (* < 0.05 and ** < 0.01)