1,721,122 research outputs found
Elk Adopt An Anti-Predatory Strategy, Getting Closer To Hikers In Banff National Park
No full textHuman effects have been described on movements of single species (e.g. bears, wolves, elk), mostly focusing on roads. We tested whether a putatively low-impact activity (hiking) was affecting a predator- prey system involving elk, wolves and bears in Banff National Park (BNP), Canada. We used GPS data for 16 elk, 14 wolves, and 9 bears, in the region where the 3 species were sympatric in May-October, when human use variation was intense. We built a human use model that relied on trail counter data acquired every hour. Wildlife distances to trails were shown to vary across trails of orders-of-magnitude
different use, across months, and land cover habitats. In high-use trails, in high-use moths (June, July, August), during daily peaks in activity, elk were closer to trails than wolves. These relationships were stronger in open habitat, where mutual detection was possible. In periods of decreased use, wolves approached trails, while elk moved away. Thus, elk likely adopted an anti-predatory strategy, getting closer to human activity, while bears movements varied individually. Our findings indicate that high numbers of hikers may play a role in shaping prey-predator spatial relations; such effects on the
ecosystem are of conservation concern and could be managed
The demographic consequences of partial migration among woodland caribou in fragmented landscapes
No full textPartial migration behavior is common across taxa despite evolutionary logic that differential demographic consequences could fix for particular strategies in each system. Woodland caribou in the Canadian Rockies exhibit genetic evidence of mixed lineages of diverged Beringian-Eurasian migratory caribou and North American sedentary caribou subspecies. While both behaviors remain in Canadian Rockies populations, the selective balance between sedentary and migratory strategies may be subject to recent alteration by anthropogenic habitat fragmentation, as mediated by predation. We used Cox proportional hazards modeling to assess the relative impact of migratory behavior, genetic signature, and habitat fragmentation on survival of a sample of >300 radio-marked caribou from 1998-2008
Evaluating Viability of Woodland Caribou in Banff and Jasper National Parks
No full textRecovery of endangered species may require a combination of protection and conservation action. In Banff National Park, the southernmost population of woodland caribou in Alberta was extirpated by an avalanche in April 2009. Concurrently, two of three populations in neighboring Jasper National Park have declined to alarming numbers (≤10). These trends reflect an uncertain future for these populations of woodland caribou despite protection within Canada’s Rocky Mountain national parks. We used population viability analysis to assess the potential for caribou persistence in Banff and
Jasper National Parks with and without translocation‐based management. We constructed a female‐based projection matrix to model caribou life history and population growth among the Banff, Brazeau, Maligne, and Tonquin populations. Input vital rates included population‐specific estimates of mean adult female survival and calf/cow ratio‐based estimates of mean fecundity, with process variance isolated for each. Our results suggested the Tonquin caribou population within Jasper is likely to remain viable without management action. However, almost certain extirpation is predicted for the Brazeau and Maligne populations, with median times to extinction of 16 years and low likelihoods of persistence
even after translocation efforts. Simulations reintroducing 45 female caribou into Banff resulted in a 66–99% chance of ≥8 females remaining after 20 years, making Banff a candidate for reintroduction. However, before translocations are adopted as a recovery tool, we encourage validation of our assumptions that the original causes of extirpation have been addressed and consideration of the challenges of conducting reintroductions to the edge of species’ climatic niches
Mixing it up after the Ice Age: Post-Pleistocene genetic and behavioral dynamics of partially migratory caribou in the Canadian Rockies
No full textIn North America, caribou (Rangifer tarandus) experienced diversification in separate refugia before the last glacial maximum. Geographical isolation produced the barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) with its distinctive migratory habits, and the woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), which has sedentary behaviour and is threatened across large areas of its distribution. Herein we report on the phylogenetics, population structure, and migratory habits of caribou in the Canadian Rockies, utilizing mtDNA, microsatellites, and GPS spatial data for 223 individuals
Linear features, forestry and wolf predation of caribou and other prey in west central Alberta
No full textNo abstract available for this repor
Modeling relationships between fire, caribou, wolves, elk and moose to aid recovery of threatened Southern Mountain Woodland Caribou in the Canadian Rocky Mountain national parks
No full textNo abstract available for this repor
Phylogeography of moose in western North America
No full textDeCesare, Nicholas J, Weckworth, Byron V, Pilgrim, Kristine L, Walker, Andrew B D, Bergman, Eric J, Colson, Kassidy E, Corrigan, Rob, Harris, Richard B, Hebblewhite, Mark, Jesmer, Brett R, Newby, Jesse R, Smith, Jason R, Tether, Rob B, Thomas, Timothy P, Schwartz, Michael K (2020): Phylogeography of moose in western North America. Journal of Mammalogy 101 (1): 10-23, DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyz163, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyz16
Linking Habitat Selection and Predation Risk to Spatial Variation in Fitness for Woodland Caribou
Full text linkA central assumption underlying niche theory and the study of habitat selection is that selected habitats confer enhanced fitness. Here, we separately measured spatial patterns of both resource selection and predation risk and tested their relationships with a key demographic fitness trait, adult female survival, for a threatened ungulate, woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). We used Cox-proportional hazards spatial survival modeling to assess support for various selection- and risk-based estimates of habitat quality using previously developed caribou resource selection functions and wolf predation risk models. Indeed we found positive relationships between the predicted values of a scale-integrated resource selection function and survival, yet subsequently incorporating predation risk greatly improved models further. Predation risk was an additive source of hazard beyond that detected through selection alone, and selection thus shown to be non-ideal. Furthermore, by combining spatially-explicit adult female survival predictions with herd-specific estimates of recruitment in matrix population models, we demographically estimated a fitness landscape for this threatened species
Roe deer summer habitat selection at multiple spatio-temporal scales in an alpine environment
Full text linkHabitat selection is a hierarchical process that may involve different patterns depending on the spatial and temporal scales of investigation. We studied habitat selection by European roe deer
(Capreolus capreolus) in a very diverse environment in the Italian eastern Alps, during summer. We sampled both coarse-grained habitat variables (topographic variables, habitat types and cover)
and fine-grained habitat variables (forage components of habitat) in used and available locations along the movement trajectories of 14 adult roe deer equipped with GPS telemetry collars. We
used conventional logistic regression to assess roe deer habitat selection at the seasonal home range scale, and conditional logistic regression to take into account the temporal aspect of habitat selection
on a weekly basis. Our results indicate that topographic variables were not significant predictors for summer roe deer habitat selection. Roe deer strongly selected dense canopy cover, probably to
avoid heat stress during warm summer days. In accordance with previous observations, roe deer preferred young forest stands dominated by pioneer species such as ash (Fraxinus spp.) and hazel
(Corylus avellana) over climax environments. Roe deer positively selected shrubs (in particular Fraxinus spp., Erica herbacea, Rhododendron spp. and Vaccinium spp.) throughout the study
period, whereas selection for grasses and sedges emerged only at the weekly scale. Habitat selection was clearly related to vegetation phenology, since roe deer selected plants in the most nutritive
phenological stages, i.e., shrubs with buds, new leaves and fruits, and newly emergent grasses and sedges. Finally, we found stronger and more significant regression coefficients for forage components
of habitat and habitat types at the weekly scale, indicating that matching spatial and temporal scales may improve our understanding of ecological patterns driving habitat selection. Conversely,
selection patterns for canopy cover did not change across scales, indicating that this variable likely drives habitat selection in a similar way throughout the entire season
- …
