Natural regulation of cervidae along a 1000 km latitudinal gradient: Change in trophic dominance

Crête, Michel; Manseau, Micheline

doi:10.1007/bf01239346

Cited by 57 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Scientifically, this indication is hardly surprising. The arctic and its subarctic-alpine extensions are characterized by intense grazer-plant interactions, with lemmings and reindeer/caribou in main roles (Tihomirov, 1958;Wielgolaski, 1975;Baztli et al, 1981;Crête & Manseau, 1996, Oksanen & Oksanen, 2000, and elimination of a strong interactor tends to reduce biodiversity (Paine, 1974;. Whether and in which time scale the current lack of reindeer grazing on Malla can be regarded as perilous for our arctic-alpine plants is nevertheless a complicated issue.…”

Section: Management Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of reindeer density on vascular plant diversity on North Scandinavian mountains

Olofsson

Oksanen

2005

Ran

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Abstract:We studied the effects of reindeer grazing on species richness and diversity of vascular plants on dolomite influenced low alpine sites in the species rich northern part of the Scandes using 8 sites with different reindeer densities. Two sites were situated inside Malla Strict Nature Reserve, where reindeer grazing have been totally prohibited since 1981, and strongly restricted since 1950s. The six other sites were located in other species rich hotspot sites standardized to be as similar to the dolomite-influenced sites in Malla Strict Reserve as possible but varying in reindeer densities commonly found in the Fennoscandian mountain chain. Each site with a habitat complex especially rich in rare vascular plants (the Dryas heath -low herb meadow complex) was systematically sampled in four plots of 2 m x 10 m. The plots were divided to 20 squares of 1 m x 1 m, and complete species lists of vascular plants were compiled for each of the squares. The first DCA (detrended correspondence analysis) axis was strongly related to an index of reindeer grazing, indicating that grazing has a strong impact on the composition of the vegetation. None of the characteristics indices of biodiversity (species richness, evenness or Shannon-Wiener H') was correlated with reindeer density. The local abundances of categories consisting of relatively rare plants (Ca favored plants and red listed plants of Finland) showed significant, positive correlation with the intensity of reindeer grazing. We conclude that even though the density of reindeer has no influence on the total species richness or diversity of vascular plants, reindeer may still be important for regional biodiversity as it seems to favour rare and threatened plants. Moreover, our results imply that standard diversity indices may have limited value in the context of conservation biology, as these indices are equally influenced by rarities and by trivial species.

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Section: Management Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recall also that reindeer is a native herbivore in Fennoscandia, and that wild ungulates in arctic areas in North America often have been found to be resource limited and thus pronouncedly influenced the vegetation (Caughly & Gunn, 1993;Crête & Manseau, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of reindeer density on vascular plant diversity on North Scandinavian mountains

Olofsson

Oksanen

2005

Ran

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“…These facts indicated that Wolves in this particular area produced two or three pups every second or third year during a favorable period from 1988. During other years, 1989, and 1996-1998, it appeared no pups were produced in Hold with Hope as evidenced by ab sence of fresh diggings at known den sites (cf. Mech 1995) or a low track density.…”

Section: Pups/littermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Muskox in northeast Greenland probably produce one calf every 2-3 years (Aastrup et al 1986*;Thing et al 1987). Adamczew ski et al (1997) noted that "…annual calving [in muskoxen] occurs only under very good conditions in the wild…" Such low reproductive rates are likely a consequence of low availability of forage, because there is a general trend of decreasing productivity with increasing latitude (Crête and Manseau 1996). For example, Tener (1965) stated that Muskox range near Lake Hazen, northern Ellesmere Island, produced 1 ⁄ 3 to 1 ⁄ 14 of forage produced on herbivore range in Jasper and Banff National Parks to the south and on the prairie ranges.…”

Section: Pups/littermentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproduction and Mortality of the High Arctic Wolf, <em>Canis lupus arctos</em>, in Northeast Greenland, 1978-1998

Marquard-Petersen

2008

Can Field Nat

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Reproduction and mortality of the High Arctic Wolf (Canis lupus arctos) in northeast Greenland were investigated through a temporal and spatial analysis of data on litter sizes from direct counts of pups during 21 years . A minimum of 22 pups were produced in a total of six areas. Overall mean litter size was 2.0 pups/litter. This was the lowest mean litter size recorded for Wolves in North America through observations of pups in summer and was probably related to low availability and vulnerability of ungulate prey. Pack size and litter size were very strongly positively correlated. Large packs (4-7 adults) produced significantly more pups than smaller packs. Mean maximum litter size from 17 North American studies employing similar methods, suggested that maximum productivity of wolves in Greenland was 58% below that of wolves elsewhere. The number of Wolf pups born in North America was negatively correlated with increasing latitude. Eight mortalities were identified and were predominantly caused by humans despite the fact that this Wolf population inhabits a national park with year-round protection.

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“…The modern distribution of wolves in North America limits the study of regulation of deer populations in presence of natural predators to caribou and moose. Although controversial, demographic studies on moose suggest that predation regulates moose density much below the level set by forage (predationregulation hypothesis: Sinclair and Arcese, 1995) when gray wolves coexist with black or brown bear (Messier and Crête, 1985;Crête, 1987;Gasaway et al, 1992;Crête and Manseau, 1996;Crête, 1998). Predation would also regulate forestdwelling caribou (Seip, 1991(Seip, , 1992 whereas regulation would depend on forage for migratory herds .…”

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confidence: 99%

Management of Indigenous North American Deer at the End of the 20th Century in Relation to Large Predators and Primary Production

Daigle¹,

Crête²

1999

Acta Veterinaria Hungarica

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White-tailed deer are typical of the deciduous forests of the east while mule deer replace them in the mountainous terrain of the west. Wapiti possess the smallest range, mostly adjacent to the prairies to the west. The two large obligate carnivores preying on deer show a reduced distribution: wolves are almost restricted to Canada, and cougar to the mule deer range. We determined the current status of each species with the help of a questionnaire mailed to all jurisdictions harbouring deer. Most reports of threatened populations concerned caribou whereas many jurisdictions declared overabundance of white-tailed deer and wapiti. Hunting was allowed for all species when they abounded in a jurisdiction. Hunters harvested annually 7.0 × 10 $ deer on the continent, 87% being white-tailed deer. The two species that caused most conflicts with humans had the highest harvest rate: 16 17%. In terms of biomass, white-tailed deer and wapiti yielded the highest harvests, with 55 and 39 kg × km` of range, respectively. The average standing biomass of deer in winter ranged between 28 kg × km` in Nevada to 901 kg × km` in Indiana. The lowest standing biomasses occurred in the boreal forest (predators), in the prairies (agriculture) and in the south-west (aridity), and the highest ones in the south-east, where only white-tailed deer is present. The current abundance of deer in North America parallels, in general, the primary production of the landscape (r = 0.38; P < 0.0001), but predators and human activity modify this pattern.

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Natural regulation of cervidae along a 1000 km latitudinal gradient: Change in trophic dominance

Cited by 57 publications

References 35 publications

Effects of reindeer density on vascular plant diversity on North Scandinavian mountains

Effects of reindeer density on vascular plant diversity on North Scandinavian mountains

Reproduction and Mortality of the High Arctic Wolf, <em>Canis lupus arctos</em>, in Northeast Greenland, 1978-1998

Management of Indigenous North American Deer at the End of the 20th Century in Relation to Large Predators and Primary Production

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