Selection of calving sites by Porcupine herd caribou

Fancy, Steven G.; Whitten, Kenneth R.

doi:10.1139/z91-242

Cited by 65 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Similar to previous studies (Brown & Theberge, 1985;Gunn & Miller, 1986;Fancy & Whitten, 1991;, the majority of the collared caribou exhib¬ ited some level of site fidelity to calving areas. In some cases the overlap in seasonal ranges during this time period was found to be greater than 30% (Table 5).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Movements of boreal caribou in the James Bay lowlands

Hazell¹,

Taylor²

2011

Ran

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).Abstract: Little is known about the movements and home range of boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in the James Bay lowlands, northern Ontario. Our preliminary study involves the use of GPS collars with Argos satellite system uplink to monitor movements of caribou and 10 animals were collared in December 2004. Animals appeared to have reduced rates of daily movement starting approximately in mid to late December and stretching until late February. Similarly, most animals appeared to have very reduced rates of movement from the beginning of May to the end of June indicating that this is their calving period (includes both parturition as well as the period immediately after parturition). Thus the over-wintering range was assumed to be where the animals were from mid-December to late February and the calving range was defined as the area they were in from the beginning of May to the end of June. Individual home-ranges were typically large, the mean 90% kernel home range for 2004 -2007 was 41 579 km 2 . Over wintering areas and calv¬ ing areas were small when compared to annual home-range size and reflect the reduced rates of movement during these time periods. Female caribou show site fidelity to calving grounds, using the same core areas year after year. However, the same level of site fidelity was not observed in over-wintering areas. The caribou in the James Bay lowlands display behaviours that are characteristic of both the forest-tundra and forest-forest ecotypes which may warrant the reconsidera¬ tion of the validity of proposed ecotypes with respect to protection under species-at-risk legislation.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Movements of boreal caribou in the James Bay lowlands

Hazell¹,

Taylor²

2011

Ran

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“…The 1976 calving area was surveyed in 1986 and no caribou were seen (Gunn & Fournier, 2000a). The possibility that calving shifted northeast of Chantrey Inlet is suggested from observations of calving caribou recorded in 1975, 1985, 1986, 1989and 1991(Gunn & Fournier, 2000a and from seasonal movements of satellite collared cows in 1991-93 (Gunn & Fournier, 2000b). The four satellite-collared cows in 1991-93 showed that caribou wintering south of the Boothia Peninsula toward Baker Lake would calve northeast of Chantrey Inlet (and not Adelaide Peninsula) (Gunn & Fournier, 2000b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We also included those cows with a history of calving on the traditional Beverly calving grounds (south of Garry Lakes) but which had shifted to the Queen Maud Gulf coastal calving ground (Nagy et al, 2011;Gunn et al, 2012). Calving date was based on examination of daily movement rates coupled with spatial movements in GIS, such that calving was determined from a rapid drop in daily movement rate (generally to <2 km/day) and localization, followed by a 5-10 day period of reduced movement (Fancy & Whitten, 1991). The rut and winter distributions were indexed from collar locations on 20 October and 1 February each year, respectively (Gunn et al, 2000).…”

Section: Queen Maud Gulf Calving and Rut Associationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Have geographical influences and changing abundance led to sub-population structure in the Ahiak caribou herd, Nunavut, Canada?

Gunn¹,

Poole²,

Wierzchowski³

et al. 2013

Ran

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Abstract:We examined the premise that changing abundance and environmental conditions influence the seasonal dispersion and distribution of migratory tundra caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus). The Ahiak herd's (north-central Nunavut, Canada) calving shifted from dispersed on islands to gregarious calving on the mainland coast. As abundance further increased, the calving ground elongated east and west such that we proposed a longitudinal climate gradient. As well, the calving ground's east and west ends are different distances from the tree-line, which dips south closer to Hudson Bay. We proposed that whether caribou winter on the tundra or within boreal forest and the different climate across the long calving ground could contribute to differential survival and productivity such that sub-population structure would result. At the scale of the individual cows (identified through satellite-collars), we did not find inter-annual spatial fidelity to either the western or eastern parts of the calving ground. At the population scale (aerial surveys of calving distribution), we also did not find discontinuities in calving distribution. The spatial association of individual cows during calving compared with their association during the rut was inconsistent among years, but overall, cows that calve together, rut together. At this time and with the available evidence, we could not infer sub-population structure from shifts in dispersion and distribution as influenced by geography and changes in abundance for the Ahiak herd.

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“…Although movement rates have been known to vary among female caribou according to reproductive status (Paré & Huot, 1985;Fancy & Whitten, 1991;Ferguson et al, 1998), high pregnancy rates are pervasive in woodland caribou populations so we assumed by 26 collared female woodland caribou dispersed across three regional populations: the Nottaway, Assinica, and Témiscamie. Primary road networks are also depicted along with the current limit of commercial forestry.…”

Section: Caribou Capture and Gps Telemetrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Using movement behaviour to define biological seasons for woodland caribou

Rudolph

Drapeau

2012

Ran

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Terrestrial mammals are strongly influenced by seasonal changes in environmental conditions. Studies of animal space use behaviour are therefore inherently seasonal in nature. We propose an individual-based quantitative method for identifying seasonal shifts in caribou movement behaviour and we demonstrate its use in determining the onset of the winter, spring dispersal, and calving seasons. Using pooled data for the population we demonstrate an alternate approach using polynomial regression with mixed effects. We then compare individual onset dates with population-based estimates and those adopted by expert consensus for our study area. Distributions of individual-based onset dates were normally distributed with prominent modes; however, there was considerable variation in individual onset times. Population-based estimates were closer to the peaks of individual estimates than were expert-based estimates, which fell outside the onetailed 90% and 95% sample quantiles of individually-fitted distributions for spring and winter, respectively. Both expertand population-based estimates were later for winter and earlier for both spring and calving than were individual-based estimates. We discuss the potential consequences of neglecting to corroborate conventionally used dates with observed seasonal trends in movement behaviour. In closing, we recommend researchers adopt an individual-based quantitative approach and a variable temporal window for data set extraction.

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Selection of calving sites by Porcupine herd caribou

Cited by 65 publications

References 4 publications

Movements of boreal caribou in the James Bay lowlands

Movements of boreal caribou in the James Bay lowlands

Have geographical influences and changing abundance led to sub-population structure in the Ahiak caribou herd, Nunavut, Canada?

Using movement behaviour to define biological seasons for woodland caribou

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