“We Used to Say Rats Fell from the Sky After a Flood:” Temporary Recovery of Muskrat Following Ice Jams in the Peace-Athabasca Delta
Elders and Indigenous land users in the Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD) have observed a dramatic decline in the relative abundance of muskrat in recent decades (~1935–2014). The main explanation for the decline has been reduction in suitable habitat as a result of decades with reduced frequency of ice-j...
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The Arctic Institute of North America
2018
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4714 https://10.70.129.196/index.php/arctic/article/download/67752/51648 |
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crarcticinstna:10.14430/arctic4714 2024-06-09T07:41:43+00:00 “We Used to Say Rats Fell from the Sky After a Flood:” Temporary Recovery of Muskrat Following Ice Jams in the Peace-Athabasca Delta Straka, Jason R. Antoine, Archie Bruno, Rene Campbell, David Campbell, Ron Campbell, Ross Cardinal, John Gibot, Gerald Gray, Queenie Z. Irwin, Sharon Kindopp, Rhona Ladouceur, Ray Ladouceur, Walter Lankshear, Jessica Maclean, Bruce Macmillan, Stuart Marcel, Freddy Marten, George Marten, Larry McKinnon, John Patterson, Lucy D. Voyageur, Charlie Voyageur, Morgan Whiteknife, George "Sloan" Wiltzen, Leslie 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4714 https://10.70.129.196/index.php/arctic/article/download/67752/51648 unknown The Arctic Institute of North America http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ARCTIC volume 71, issue 2 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 journal-article 2018 crarcticinstna https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4714 2024-05-14T12:53:43Z Elders and Indigenous land users in the Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD) have observed a dramatic decline in the relative abundance of muskrat in recent decades (~1935–2014). The main explanation for the decline has been reduction in suitable habitat as a result of decades with reduced frequency of ice-jam flooding on the Peace River. Under favourable conditions, ice jams can cause flooding of perched basins within the PAD that would otherwise receive no recharge from floodwaters. To examine whether abundance of muskrat in the PAD is driven by flooding, we tested the predictions that the density of muskrat (estimated by winter counts of houses) (1) was inversely related to the number of years since major ice jam floods and (2) increased with water depth. An ongoing collaborative monitoring program initiated in 2011, combined with analysis of data from past surveys (1973–2015), allowed Indigenous land users and scientists to document a 10 to 100-fold increase in the density of muskrat houses in 24 basins, over the two years following ice-jam flood events in the PAD. During 1973–2015, in the periods between major floods, density of houses dropped by approximately 79% for every year after a significant flood. In 27 basins surveyed from 2011 to 2015, density of muskrat houses increased by two orders of magnitude in the two years following a flood in the spring of 2014. Density of muskrat houses had a non-linear relationship with estimated depth of water at the time of fall freeze-up; the highest densities of muskrat houses were in basins with about 60 – 250 cm of water at the time of freeze-up. The depth of snow at the time of surveys did not have a strong relationship with the density of muskrat houses. However, few houses were counted in basins with more than 20 cm of snow, likely because deeper snow made it more difficult to conduct surveys and spot houses. Factors other than an increase in the depth of water at fall freeze-up may provide the mechanisms by which flooding affects muskrat. Density of muskrat houses is ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Institute of North America Peace-Athabasca Delta ENVELOPE(-111.502,-111.502,58.667,58.667) ARCTIC 71 2 |
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Open Polar |
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Arctic Institute of North America |
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crarcticinstna |
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unknown |
description |
Elders and Indigenous land users in the Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD) have observed a dramatic decline in the relative abundance of muskrat in recent decades (~1935–2014). The main explanation for the decline has been reduction in suitable habitat as a result of decades with reduced frequency of ice-jam flooding on the Peace River. Under favourable conditions, ice jams can cause flooding of perched basins within the PAD that would otherwise receive no recharge from floodwaters. To examine whether abundance of muskrat in the PAD is driven by flooding, we tested the predictions that the density of muskrat (estimated by winter counts of houses) (1) was inversely related to the number of years since major ice jam floods and (2) increased with water depth. An ongoing collaborative monitoring program initiated in 2011, combined with analysis of data from past surveys (1973–2015), allowed Indigenous land users and scientists to document a 10 to 100-fold increase in the density of muskrat houses in 24 basins, over the two years following ice-jam flood events in the PAD. During 1973–2015, in the periods between major floods, density of houses dropped by approximately 79% for every year after a significant flood. In 27 basins surveyed from 2011 to 2015, density of muskrat houses increased by two orders of magnitude in the two years following a flood in the spring of 2014. Density of muskrat houses had a non-linear relationship with estimated depth of water at the time of fall freeze-up; the highest densities of muskrat houses were in basins with about 60 – 250 cm of water at the time of freeze-up. The depth of snow at the time of surveys did not have a strong relationship with the density of muskrat houses. However, few houses were counted in basins with more than 20 cm of snow, likely because deeper snow made it more difficult to conduct surveys and spot houses. Factors other than an increase in the depth of water at fall freeze-up may provide the mechanisms by which flooding affects muskrat. Density of muskrat houses is ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Straka, Jason R. Antoine, Archie Bruno, Rene Campbell, David Campbell, Ron Campbell, Ross Cardinal, John Gibot, Gerald Gray, Queenie Z. Irwin, Sharon Kindopp, Rhona Ladouceur, Ray Ladouceur, Walter Lankshear, Jessica Maclean, Bruce Macmillan, Stuart Marcel, Freddy Marten, George Marten, Larry McKinnon, John Patterson, Lucy D. Voyageur, Charlie Voyageur, Morgan Whiteknife, George "Sloan" Wiltzen, Leslie |
spellingShingle |
Straka, Jason R. Antoine, Archie Bruno, Rene Campbell, David Campbell, Ron Campbell, Ross Cardinal, John Gibot, Gerald Gray, Queenie Z. Irwin, Sharon Kindopp, Rhona Ladouceur, Ray Ladouceur, Walter Lankshear, Jessica Maclean, Bruce Macmillan, Stuart Marcel, Freddy Marten, George Marten, Larry McKinnon, John Patterson, Lucy D. Voyageur, Charlie Voyageur, Morgan Whiteknife, George "Sloan" Wiltzen, Leslie “We Used to Say Rats Fell from the Sky After a Flood:” Temporary Recovery of Muskrat Following Ice Jams in the Peace-Athabasca Delta |
author_facet |
Straka, Jason R. Antoine, Archie Bruno, Rene Campbell, David Campbell, Ron Campbell, Ross Cardinal, John Gibot, Gerald Gray, Queenie Z. Irwin, Sharon Kindopp, Rhona Ladouceur, Ray Ladouceur, Walter Lankshear, Jessica Maclean, Bruce Macmillan, Stuart Marcel, Freddy Marten, George Marten, Larry McKinnon, John Patterson, Lucy D. Voyageur, Charlie Voyageur, Morgan Whiteknife, George "Sloan" Wiltzen, Leslie |
author_sort |
Straka, Jason R. |
title |
“We Used to Say Rats Fell from the Sky After a Flood:” Temporary Recovery of Muskrat Following Ice Jams in the Peace-Athabasca Delta |
title_short |
“We Used to Say Rats Fell from the Sky After a Flood:” Temporary Recovery of Muskrat Following Ice Jams in the Peace-Athabasca Delta |
title_full |
“We Used to Say Rats Fell from the Sky After a Flood:” Temporary Recovery of Muskrat Following Ice Jams in the Peace-Athabasca Delta |
title_fullStr |
“We Used to Say Rats Fell from the Sky After a Flood:” Temporary Recovery of Muskrat Following Ice Jams in the Peace-Athabasca Delta |
title_full_unstemmed |
“We Used to Say Rats Fell from the Sky After a Flood:” Temporary Recovery of Muskrat Following Ice Jams in the Peace-Athabasca Delta |
title_sort |
“we used to say rats fell from the sky after a flood:” temporary recovery of muskrat following ice jams in the peace-athabasca delta |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4714 https://10.70.129.196/index.php/arctic/article/download/67752/51648 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-111.502,-111.502,58.667,58.667) |
geographic |
Peace-Athabasca Delta |
geographic_facet |
Peace-Athabasca Delta |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
ARCTIC volume 71, issue 2 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4714 |
container_title |
ARCTIC |
container_volume |
71 |
container_issue |
2 |
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1801370332927361024 |