Early-winter diet of woodland caribou in relation to snow accumulation, Selkirk Mountains, British Columbia, Canada

Rominger, Eric M.; Oldemeyer, John L.

doi:10.1139/z90-372

Cited by 34 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In both cases, Caribou fed at essentially all windthrown trees and days not observed to be used 5 4:1 7 5:2 χ branches encountered, used downed trees more intensively than they did standing trees, and used them to the same degree in the low-snow and deep-snow periods. Consistent with our results, Rominger and Oldemeyer (1990) found the diet to shift away from ground-based food sources when snow depth exceeded 50 cm. The simplest explanation for the patterns we observed is that it reflected the typical annual shift from a mixed early-winter diet to an arboreal lichen-only late-winter diet, with the early date of the shift resulting from the 50-cm snowpack we observed in midNovember being four weeks ahead of normal at 1930 m elevation in our study area (British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks Snow Survey Bulletin, 01 February 2000, unpublished data).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

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Characteristics of Early-Winter Caribou, <em>Rangifer tarandus caribou</em>, Feeding Sites in the Southern Purcell Mountains, British Columbia

Kinley

Bergenske²,

Davies

et al. 2003

Can Field Nat

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Mountain Caribou are a rare ecotype of Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) inhabiting the high-snowfall region of southeastern British Columbia, and are defined by their late-winter reliance on arboreal hair lichen of the genus Bryoria. During early winter, there is considerable variation in habitat use among populations. We snow-trailed Caribou in the southern Purcell Mountains during early winter to determine foraging patterns for the Purcell population. When snow was ≤51 cm deep, Caribou fed on Grouseberry (Vaccinium scoparium), the terrestrial lichen Cladonia, and arboreal lichens of the genus Bryoria. When snow was ≥62 cm deep, they ate exclusively arboreal lichens. In both periods, Caribou ate arboreal lichen from essentially every downed tree or branch encountered and fed with a higher intensity at downed trees than standing trees. During the low-snow period, Caribou fed at fewer trees but used those with greater lichen abundance, and fed more intensively at each, compared to the deep-snow period. In comparison to trees occurring on the foraging path but at which Caribou did not feed, those from which arboreal lichen was foraged intensively were of larger diameter, had greater lichen abundance, and were more likely to be Subalpine Fir (Abies lasiocarpa) or Engelmann Spruce (Picea engelmannii) and less likely to be Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis), Lodgepole Pine (P. contorta) or Alpine Larch (Larix lyalli). The shift in diet between the low-snow and deep-snow periods reflected two modes of foraging within the early winter period, distinct from one another and apparently also distinct from the late-winter season. Management for early-winter habitat will require retention of some commercially significant forest across extensive areas, both near the subalpine forest – subalpine parkland ecotone and lower in the subalpine forest.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…and graminoids Freddy 1974;Bloomfield 1979;Antifeau 1987;Simpson et al 1987;Rominger and Oldemeyer 1990;McLellan and Flaa 1993*;Mowat et al 1998*;Terry et al 2000, Stevenson et al 2001. The early-winter season typically lasts from November through mid-January, and is associated with shifts to lower elevations (Stevenson et al 2001;Apps et al 2001).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of Early-Winter Caribou, <em>Rangifer tarandus caribou</em>, Feeding Sites in the Southern Purcell Mountains, British Columbia

Kinley

Bergenske²,

Davies

et al. 2003

Can Field Nat

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“…Vegetation productivity could be an important influence on caribou habitat because of the need for quality forage to meet the energy requirements of lactation associated with calving (Crête and Huot 1993). In contrast, snow acts as a physical impediment to both movement (Antifeau 1987) and access to vegetation (Rominger and Oldemeyer 1990;Johnson et al 2001), which increases energetic demands on caribou (Mosser et al 2014) and may also increase visibility to predators (Bergerud and Page 1987;Adams et al 1995).…”

Section: Landscape Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeking sanctuary: the neonatal calving period among central mountain woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou)

Nobert¹,

Milligan²,

Stenhouse³

et al. 2016

Can. J. Zool.

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Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)) populations have declined throughout their range. With the goal of better understanding habitat selection and fidelity during the neonatal calving period (0-4 weeks), we applied a noninvasive method that estimates calving events and subsequent survival based on changes in movement rates among GPS-collared female caribou. We examined a long-term GPS-collar data set (1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014) collected from 81 adult female caribou in two central mountain herds in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. Although we were unable to validate our results with aerial surveys and pregnancy tests, our estimates of parturition rates, survival rates, calving dates, and habitat selection were consistent with previous studies. We identified 83 calving sites. Female caribou selected calving sites and postparturition habitat on high-elevation ridgetops with gradual slopes and avoided anthropogenic linear features. Female caribou displayed low fidelity to interannual calving ranges with a mean distance of 8.7 km between calving ranges. Fidelity was lower in areas with high seismic-line density. Conservation of high-elevation habitat with limited anthropogenic disturbance is likely to provide the greatest benefit to central mountain caribou during the neonatal calving period, and represents a potential management strategy for population recovery efforts.

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“…Caribou diet consists primarily of lichen, supplemented in summer with forbs and graminoids (Rominger and Oldemeyer 1990, Newmaster et al 2013, Thompson et al 2015. These foods vary widely across different forest stand types in the boreal zone (Mallon 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selection for forage and avoidance of risk by woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) at coarse and local scales

et al. 2015

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Abstract. The relationship between selection at coarse and fine spatiotemporal spatial scales is still poorly understood. Some authors claim that, to accommodate different needs at different scales, individuals should have contrasting selection patterns at different scales of selection, while others claim that coarse scale selection patterns should reflect fine scale selection decisions. Here we examine site selection by 110 woodland caribou equipped with GPS radio-collars with respect to forage availability and predation risk across a broad gradient in availability of both variables in boreal forests of Northern Ontario. We tested whether caribou selection for forage and avoidance of risk was consistent between coarse (seasonal home range) and fine scales of selection. We found that local selection patterns predicted coarse scale selection patterns, indicating a close relationship between the drivers of selection at both spatial scales.

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Early-winter diet of woodland caribou in relation to snow accumulation, Selkirk Mountains, British Columbia, Canada

Cited by 34 publications

References 19 publications

Characteristics of Early-Winter Caribou, <em>Rangifer tarandus caribou</em>, Feeding Sites in the Southern Purcell Mountains, British Columbia

Characteristics of Early-Winter Caribou, <em>Rangifer tarandus caribou</em>, Feeding Sites in the Southern Purcell Mountains, British Columbia

Seeking sanctuary: the neonatal calving period among central mountain woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou)

Selection for forage and avoidance of risk by woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) at coarse and local scales

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