Examination of two new technologies to assess the diet of woodland caribou: video recorders attached to collars and DNA barcoding
The diet of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou Gmelin, 1788) in the boreal zone of North America is poorly understood. In large part this is because they occur at low densities in environments that are difficult to access. The only method available for identifying food requirements of wildl...
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/cjfr-2013-0108 2023-05-15T15:53:29+02:00 Examination of two new technologies to assess the diet of woodland caribou: video recorders attached to collars and DNA barcoding Newmaster, Steven G. Thompson, Ian D. Steeves, Royce A.D. Rodgers, Arthur R. Fazekas, Aron J. Maloles, Jose R. McMullin, Richard T. Fryxell, John M. 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2013-0108 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjfr-2013-0108 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjfr-2013-0108 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Forest Research volume 43, issue 10, page 897-900 ISSN 0045-5067 1208-6037 Ecology Forestry Global and Planetary Change journal-article 2013 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2013-0108 2023-01-23T18:41:56Z The diet of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou Gmelin, 1788) in the boreal zone of North America is poorly understood. In large part this is because they occur at low densities in environments that are difficult to access. The only method available for identifying food requirements of wildlife has been histological examination of fecal samples, a technique that suffers from a number of serious limitations. Our study used fecal samples from 125 woodland caribou and animal-borne videos to address two questions: (1) How do the new technologies, video cameras and DNA barcoding, compare with conventional diet analyses of fecal pellets? and (2) Can these techniques be used to determine the diet of woodland caribou? Our results show that microhistology estimates provide an inaccurate approximation of diet; <15% correlation with either barcoding or video techniques. Taxonomic resolution of the histology estimates was very low. Taxonomic resolution to species found in fecal samples was good using video (42%) but better using DNA barcoding (94%). DNA barcoding and video technologies provided dietary data that were highly correlated (70%) among major groups of plants, with terrestrial lichens dominating the late winter through early spring diet. The high species resolution of DNA barcoding may be supplemented by information on habitat preference and degree of feeding selectivity obtained by video surveillance. These novel technologies may be important tools for identifying critical habitat requirements and associated conservation strategies needed for elusive wildlife species that are endangered. Article in Journal/Newspaper caribou Rangifer tarandus Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Canadian Journal of Forest Research 43 10 897 900 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology Forestry Global and Planetary Change |
spellingShingle |
Ecology Forestry Global and Planetary Change Newmaster, Steven G. Thompson, Ian D. Steeves, Royce A.D. Rodgers, Arthur R. Fazekas, Aron J. Maloles, Jose R. McMullin, Richard T. Fryxell, John M. Examination of two new technologies to assess the diet of woodland caribou: video recorders attached to collars and DNA barcoding |
topic_facet |
Ecology Forestry Global and Planetary Change |
description |
The diet of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou Gmelin, 1788) in the boreal zone of North America is poorly understood. In large part this is because they occur at low densities in environments that are difficult to access. The only method available for identifying food requirements of wildlife has been histological examination of fecal samples, a technique that suffers from a number of serious limitations. Our study used fecal samples from 125 woodland caribou and animal-borne videos to address two questions: (1) How do the new technologies, video cameras and DNA barcoding, compare with conventional diet analyses of fecal pellets? and (2) Can these techniques be used to determine the diet of woodland caribou? Our results show that microhistology estimates provide an inaccurate approximation of diet; <15% correlation with either barcoding or video techniques. Taxonomic resolution of the histology estimates was very low. Taxonomic resolution to species found in fecal samples was good using video (42%) but better using DNA barcoding (94%). DNA barcoding and video technologies provided dietary data that were highly correlated (70%) among major groups of plants, with terrestrial lichens dominating the late winter through early spring diet. The high species resolution of DNA barcoding may be supplemented by information on habitat preference and degree of feeding selectivity obtained by video surveillance. These novel technologies may be important tools for identifying critical habitat requirements and associated conservation strategies needed for elusive wildlife species that are endangered. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Newmaster, Steven G. Thompson, Ian D. Steeves, Royce A.D. Rodgers, Arthur R. Fazekas, Aron J. Maloles, Jose R. McMullin, Richard T. Fryxell, John M. |
author_facet |
Newmaster, Steven G. Thompson, Ian D. Steeves, Royce A.D. Rodgers, Arthur R. Fazekas, Aron J. Maloles, Jose R. McMullin, Richard T. Fryxell, John M. |
author_sort |
Newmaster, Steven G. |
title |
Examination of two new technologies to assess the diet of woodland caribou: video recorders attached to collars and DNA barcoding |
title_short |
Examination of two new technologies to assess the diet of woodland caribou: video recorders attached to collars and DNA barcoding |
title_full |
Examination of two new technologies to assess the diet of woodland caribou: video recorders attached to collars and DNA barcoding |
title_fullStr |
Examination of two new technologies to assess the diet of woodland caribou: video recorders attached to collars and DNA barcoding |
title_full_unstemmed |
Examination of two new technologies to assess the diet of woodland caribou: video recorders attached to collars and DNA barcoding |
title_sort |
examination of two new technologies to assess the diet of woodland caribou: video recorders attached to collars and dna barcoding |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2013-0108 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjfr-2013-0108 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjfr-2013-0108 |
genre |
caribou Rangifer tarandus |
genre_facet |
caribou Rangifer tarandus |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Forest Research volume 43, issue 10, page 897-900 ISSN 0045-5067 1208-6037 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2013-0108 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Forest Research |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
897 |
op_container_end_page |
900 |
_version_ |
1766388596224294912 |