Comment on “Widespread declines in woodland caribou ( Rangifer tarandus caribou ) continue in Alberta”

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Author: Harron, Donald
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2015
• Subjects: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Canada; caribou; Rangifer tarandus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2014-0217; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjz-2014-0217; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjz-2014-0217

The 2013 study by Hervieux et al. outlining population trends of Boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)) in Alberta, Canada, utilizes statistical analysis in nonconformance with this analytical method’s limitations and applied data manipulations that biases the result toward a finding of decreasing population trends. The analysis is also based on orders-of-magnitude exaggerations in the precision of field data and failed to take into account the potential for bias toward elevated annual mortality risk associated with the nonrandomized method of selection for collaring female Boreal woodland caribou, and the potential for elevated mortality as a result of the collars themselves. Due to its numerous limitations, it is unlikely that the predictive model outlined in the study is representative of actual trends in populations and is not an approach that can produce reliable population trend estimates.