Simulation of maintenance, growth and reproduction of caribou and reindeer as influenced by ecological aspects of nutrition, climate change and industrial development using an energy-protein model

White, Robert G.; Russell, Daniel M.; Daniel, Colin J.

doi:10.7557/2.34.2.3269

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 222 publications

(330 reference statements)

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“…In the future, researchers could pair accelerometers with foraging and insect data from videos to calculate the true energetic costs of extra movement across age and sex classes (Williams et al, 2014 ). Our estimates of tradeoffs between eating and insect avoidance behaviors could be also used in energetics models (e.g., White et al, 2014 ) to understand consequences of changes in insect harassment to populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical summer foraging tradeoffs in a subarctic ungulate

Ehlers

Coulombe

Herriges

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Summer diets are crucial for large herbivores in the subarctic and are affected by weather, harassment from insects and a variety of environmental changes linked to climate. Yet, understanding foraging behavior and diet of large herbivores is challenging in the subarctic because of their remote ranges. We used GPS video‐camera collars to observe behaviors and summer diets of the migratory Fortymile Caribou Herd (Rangifer tarandus granti) across Alaska, USA and the Yukon, Canada. First, we characterized caribou behavior. Second, we tested if videos could be used to quantify changes in the probability of eating events. Third, we estimated summer diets at the finest taxonomic resolution possible through videos. Finally, we compared summer diet estimates from video collars to microhistological analysis of fecal pellets. We classified 18,134 videos from 30 female caribou over two summers (2018 and 2019). Caribou behaviors included eating (mean = 43.5%), ruminating (25.6%), travelling (14.0%), stationary awake (11.3%) and napping (5.1%). Eating was restricted by insect harassment. We classified forage(s) consumed in 5,549 videos where diet composition (monthly) highlighted a strong tradeoff between lichens and shrubs; shrubs dominated diets in June and July when lichen use declined. We identified 63 species, 70 genus and 33 family groups of summer forages from videos. After adjusting for digestibility, monthly estimates of diet composition were strongly correlated at the scale of the forage functional type (i.e., forage groups composed of forbs, graminoids, mosses, shrubs and lichens; r = 0.79, p < .01). Using video collars, we identified (1) a pronounced tradeoff in summer foraging between lichens and shrubs and (2) the costs of insect harassment on eating. Understanding caribou foraging ecology is needed to plan for their long‐term conservation across the circumpolar north, and video collars can provide a powerful approach across remote regions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical summer foraging tradeoffs in a subarctic ungulate

Ehlers

Coulombe

Herriges

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Our model envisioned the reindeer body as divided into compartments (Winkel, 2016). The model simulated the redistribution of heat between the compartments as a result of the physiological thermoregulation mechanisms of the reindeer.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite these advances, little work has been done on the direct climatic impact to understand how animals themselves experience temperature differentials in combination with other climatic factors; how this, in turn, influences their use of territory; and how these changes affect their well-being. A number of Canadian zoologists have used computer simulations to model the caribou energy balance in North America (Russell, 1976;White et al, 2014). Russell (1976) proposed a model that simulated an individual female caribou and used decision-based modelling of caribou feeding cycles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Climatic Conditions for Siberian Reindeer Herding on the Basis of Heat Balance Modelling

Klokov¹,

Mikhailov²

2019

ARCTIC

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The purpose of the research is to assess suitable climatic conditions for traditional herding of reindeer by Indigenous people in different areas of Siberia. A сomputer simulation model allowed us to calculate reindeer’s heat balance according to a number of meteorological indices; it was used to assess climatic conditions in 70 localities. To show the impact of climatic conditions on reindeer’s well-being, we introduce the notion of the thermal comfort index (Kt). The best environmental conditions for reindeer are in the areas where Kt takes the highest values in winter and the lowest ones in summer. We showed the results of the reindeer heat balance computer simulation on two maps visualising the average Kt values in summer and in winter. Finally, using official statistics, we calculated the number of reindeer per 100 km2 in areas with different types of traditional reindeer herding. The territories with the largest domesticated reindeer populations per 100 km2 in the two major tundra reindeer breeding areas (Samoed and Chukchi-Koriak types of reindeer herding) are located in the regions with the relatively low value of Kt in summer and high in winter. In the taiga, Kt is relatively high in summer, and reindeer herding (Tungus and Saian types) is developed mostly in highlands, where the summer Kt is lower than in flatlands because of the vertical temperature gradient. The results obtained prove that thermal conditions are extremely important for traditional reindeer herding.

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“…Forage selection is the base of the foraging hierarchy and ultimately constrains intake rates by determining which of available forages are accepted as food items (Cook et al 2016, Denryter et al 2020a. Quantity of accepted forages limits short-term intake rates as search times and travel rates increase between successive bites (Spalinger and Hobbs 1992, Cook et al 2016, Denryter et al 2020a, whereas forage quality limits intake through effects on digestion and rumination, which slow with declining quality (Shipley and Spalinger 1992, Holand 1994, Owen-Smith 2002, Tafaj et al 2005, White et al 2014). Forage quality and quantity vary as a function of biogeoclimatic effects on plant species composition, plant phenology and chemistry, and productivity (Johnstone et al 2002, Cook et al 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

Animal‐defined resources reveal nutritional inadequacies for woodland caribou during summer–autumn

Denryter

Cook

et al. 2022

J Wildl Manag

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Populations of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) are declining throughout their range and many are at risk of extirpation, yet the role of nutrition in these declines remains poorly understood, in part owing to a lack of information about available nutritional resources during summer. We quantified rates of intake of digestible protein and digestible energy by tame caribou foraging in temporary enclosures in the predominant plant communities of northeastern British Columbia, Canada, during summer-autumn and compared intake rates to daily requirements for protein and energy during lactation. We tested hypotheses related to the nutritional adequacy of the environment to support nutritional requirements during lactation (with and without replenishment of body reserves) and simulated scenarios of foraging by caribou in these plant communities to better understand how wild caribou could meet nutritional demands on these landscapes.Nutritional resources varied among plant communities across seasonal, ecological, and successional gradients; digestible energy intake per minute and per day were significantly greater in younger than older forests; dietary digestible energy and perminute and daily intake of digestible protein were greater, though not significantly so, in younger than older forests; and dietary digestible protein was greater in older than younger forests,

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Simulation of maintenance, growth and reproduction of caribou and reindeer as influenced by ecological aspects of nutrition, climate change and industrial development using an energy-protein model

Cited by 15 publications

References 222 publications

Critical summer foraging tradeoffs in a subarctic ungulate

Critical summer foraging tradeoffs in a subarctic ungulate

Assessment of Climatic Conditions for Siberian Reindeer Herding on the Basis of Heat Balance Modelling

Animal‐defined resources reveal nutritional inadequacies for woodland caribou during summer–autumn

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