A multi-scale behavioural approach to understanding the movements of woodland caribou.

Abstract

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Characterizing woodland caribou habitat in sub-boreal and boreal forests

“…Completion of this project and corresponding accuracy assessment allowed us to control the development and evaluate the vegetation maps to which we ascribed considerable importance in interpreting caribou movements and habitat affinities (Johnson, 2000). Evaluation and control were important considerations that weighed heavily in our decisions to pursue this project.…”

“…Combinations were based upon errors of commission (i.e. cover types that were inclusive within another class), our knowledge of caribou-habitat relations (Johnson, 2000), and the observed ecological similarities between the 27 identified cover types. Where possible, we attempted to maintain the singularity of those cover types with known relevance to caribou biology (e.g.…”

“…We did, however, achieve considerable cost savings through the use of existing-field data. We used the data and classification scheme from a previous mapping project (McKenzie, 1993), site investigation data from related research (Johnson, 2000), and publicly available data of roads/ trails, lakes, rivers, topography (government), and forest harvesting boundaries (industry). Similar ancillary data likely exists for at least portions of other project areas where existing or reliable maps are unavailable.…”

A Multi‐scale Test of the Forage Maturation Hypothesis in a Partially Migratory Ungulate Population

“…We examine forage selection across scales because previous studies demonstrated ungulates can adopt selection strategies at more than one scale (Wilmshurst et al 1999, Johnson et al 2002, Boyce et al 2003, and adopt Johnson's (1980) hierarchy of scales of selection to guide our analyses.…”

Seasonal Habitat Use and Movements of Mountain Goats, <em>Oreamnos americanus</em>, in East-central British Columbia

“…Location accuracy is inversely related to dilution of precision values, and 3D locations have a higher probability of being more accurate than 2D locations (Trimble Navigation Ltd 1994*; British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks 1995*; Johnson 2000). Whenever GPS location success is <100%, then GPS locations likely represent a biased sample of habitat use because location success is affected by factors like tree density, canopy cover and topography (Rempel et al 1995;Moen et al 1996;Dussault et al 1999;D'Eon et al 2002).…”