The umbrella value of caribou management strategies for biodiversity conservation in boreal forests under global change

Labadie, Guillemette; Bouderbala, Ilhem; Boulanger, Yan; Béland, Jean-Michel; Hébert, Christian; Allard, Antoine; Hebblewhite, Mark; Fortin, Daniel

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168087

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…In addition to these drawbacks, a rapid anthropogenic conversion of boreal landscapes would have tremendously deleterious impacts on a myriad of species associated with conifer forest covers (Tremblay et al 2018; Labadie et al 2023), species that are also typically vulnerable to logging (Imbeau et al 2001; Venier et al 2014; Leblond et al 2022) and climate change (Bouderbala et al 2023). Rapid conversion of forest landscapes could also significantly alter the livelihoods, cultures, and identities of First Nations who are closely tied to the land (Belisle et al 2022).…”

Section: Where Do We Go From Here?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The 2023 wildfire season in Québec: an overview of extreme conditions, impacts, lessons learned and considerations for the future

Boulanger,

Arseneault,

Bélisle

et al. 2024

Preprint

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The 2023 wildfire season in Québec set records due to extreme warm and dry conditions, burning 4.5 million hectares and indicating persistent and escalating impacts associated with climate change. The study reviews the unusual weather conditions that led to the fires, discussing their extensive impacts on the forest sector, fire management, boreal caribou habitats, and particularly the profound effects on First Nation communities. The wildfires led to significant declines in forest productivity and timber supply, overwhelming fire management resources, and necessitating widespread evacuations. First Nation territories were dramatically altered, facing severe air quality issues and disruptions. While caribou impacts were modest across the province, the broader ecological, economical, and social repercussions were considerable. To mitigate future extreme wildfire seasons, the study suggests changes in forest management practices to increase forest resilience and resistance, adapting industrial structures to new timber supplies, and enhancing fire suppression and risk management strategies. It calls for a comprehensive, unified approach to risk management that incorporates the lessons from the 2023 fire season and accounts for ongoing climate change. The study underscores the urgent need for detailed planning and proactive measures to reduce the growing risks and impacts of wildfires in a changing climate.

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Section: Where Do We Go From Here?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Maintaining precautionary wood reserves would also benefit several additional ecosystem services, notably by maintaining old-growth forests that are high-quality habitat for many wildlife species including caribou (Bichet el. 2016; Leblond et al 2022; St-Laurent et al 2022; Labadie et al 2023).…”

Section: Where Do We Go From Here?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The 2023 wildfire season in Québec: an overview of extreme conditions, impacts, lessons learned and considerations for the future

Boulanger,

Arseneault,

Bélisle

et al. 2024

Preprint

Self Cite

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Differential responses of woodland caribou to fire and forestry across boreal and montane ecosystems—a literature review

Stevenson,

Finnegan,

Johnson

et al. 2024

Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research

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Ecosystem-based management (EBM) is a landscape-level management and planning process that is common across North America. A primary tenet of EBM is that the area and intensity of anthropogenic disturbance should mimic the historical natural disturbance of the focal ecosystem. Biodiversity should persist, at least at a coarse scale, where anthropogenic disturbance, such as forest harvesting, matches natural disturbance. However, EBM is failing some species, particularly those that are dependent on old forest. Across many areas of Canada, woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) are declining because of the direct and indirect effects of habitat loss and fragmentation. This is even though forest management often follows the principles of EBM. We conducted a qualitative comparison of the responses of woodland caribou to wildfire and forest harvesting, considering a broad range of responses, including habitat selection and distribution, forage, movement patterns, and population dynamics. We found that while wildfire and forest harvesting both influence caribou, the negative effects are generally greater following forest harvesting. For example, wildfire and forest harvesting result in the loss of habitat, but caribou are more likely to shift, abandon or contract their range in response to harvest. The literature also suggested a stronger negative population response of caribou to forest harvest when compared to wildfire. This difference could be the result of greater residual forest structure associated with wildfire as well as the extensive resource roads that are necessary for forestry operations. Although there is sound theoretical support for EBM, the practice, as implemented, may not be effective for maintaining the habitat and ultimately populations of woodland caribou.

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Feralization: A threat to conservation of wild reindeer

Mysterud,

Flagstad,

Strand

2024

Conservat Sci and Prac

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Conservation reintroduction is an increasingly applied tool for population restoration. The choice of source population is important from a conservation genetic perspective, but there is ambiguity in IUCN policies surrounding reintroductions from (semi‐)domestic sources. After the depopulation of an entire wild reindeer population due to detection of chronic wasting disease in Norway, the plan is to re‐establish reindeer after years of fallowing. Establishing wild reindeer has become challenging due to arguments for disease control favoring a semidomestic origin of the reintroduced stock. Selection is strong during domestication, and feralization does not lead to a full reversal towards wild traits. From a conservation perspective, we advocate future guidelines to include a ranking when wild, captive, semidomestic, and domestic stocks are available for reintroductions, in order to avoid feralization whenever possible during reintroductions and rewilding efforts.

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The umbrella value of caribou management strategies for biodiversity conservation in boreal forests under global change

Cited by 5 publications

References 73 publications

The 2023 wildfire season in Québec: an overview of extreme conditions, impacts, lessons learned and considerations for the future

The 2023 wildfire season in Québec: an overview of extreme conditions, impacts, lessons learned and considerations for the future

Differential responses of woodland caribou to fire and forestry across boreal and montane ecosystems—a literature review

Feralization: A threat to conservation of wild reindeer

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