Historical Landscape Use of Migratory Caribou: New Insights From Old Antlers
Accumulations of shed caribou antlers (Rangifer tarandus) are valuable resources for expanding the temporal scope with which we evaluate seasonal landscape use of herds. Female caribou shed their antlers within days of giving birth, thus marking calving ground locations. Antler geochemistry ( 87 Sr/...
Published in: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.590837 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2020.590837/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fevo.2020.590837 2024-04-28T08:08:14+00:00 Historical Landscape Use of Migratory Caribou: New Insights From Old Antlers Miller, Joshua H. Crowley, Brooke E. Bataille, Clément P. Wald, Eric J. Kelly, Abigail Gaetano, Madison Bahn, Volker Druckenmiller, Patrick National Geographic Society The Wildlife Society 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.590837 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2020.590837/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution volume 8 ISSN 2296-701X Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2021 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.590837 2024-04-08T06:43:44Z Accumulations of shed caribou antlers (Rangifer tarandus) are valuable resources for expanding the temporal scope with which we evaluate seasonal landscape use of herds. Female caribou shed their antlers within days of giving birth, thus marking calving ground locations. Antler geochemistry ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) reflects the isotopic signature of regions used during antler growth, thereby providing data on a second component of seasonal landscape use. Here, we evaluate shed caribou antlers from the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. The Central and Eastern regions of the Coastal Plain are calving grounds for the Porcupine Caribou Herd, while the Western Coastal Plain supports calving by the Central Arctic Herd. We found that antler 87 Sr/ 86 Sr from the Central and Eastern Coastal Plain were isotopically indistinguishable, while antler 87 Sr/ 86 Sr from the Western Coastal Plain was significantly smaller. For each region, we compared isotopic data for “recent” antlers, which overlap the bulk of standardized state and federal caribou monitoring (early 1980s and younger), with “historical” antlers shed in years predating these records (from the 1300s to the 1970s). For Porcupine Herd females calving in the Arctic Refuge, comparisons of antler 87 Sr/ 86 Sr through time indicate that summer ranges have been consistent since at least the 1960s. However, changes between historical and recent antler 87 Sr/ 86 Sr for the Central Arctic Herd indicate a shift in summer landscape use after the late 1970s. The timing of this shift is coincident with multiple factors including increased infrastructural development in their range related to hydrocarbon extraction. Accumulations of shed caribou antlers and their isotope geochemistry extend modern datasets by decades to centuries and provide valuable baseline data for evaluating potential anthropogenic and other influences on caribou migration and landscape use. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Rangifer tarandus Alaska Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 8 |
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Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
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Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Miller, Joshua H. Crowley, Brooke E. Bataille, Clément P. Wald, Eric J. Kelly, Abigail Gaetano, Madison Bahn, Volker Druckenmiller, Patrick Historical Landscape Use of Migratory Caribou: New Insights From Old Antlers |
topic_facet |
Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Accumulations of shed caribou antlers (Rangifer tarandus) are valuable resources for expanding the temporal scope with which we evaluate seasonal landscape use of herds. Female caribou shed their antlers within days of giving birth, thus marking calving ground locations. Antler geochemistry ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) reflects the isotopic signature of regions used during antler growth, thereby providing data on a second component of seasonal landscape use. Here, we evaluate shed caribou antlers from the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. The Central and Eastern regions of the Coastal Plain are calving grounds for the Porcupine Caribou Herd, while the Western Coastal Plain supports calving by the Central Arctic Herd. We found that antler 87 Sr/ 86 Sr from the Central and Eastern Coastal Plain were isotopically indistinguishable, while antler 87 Sr/ 86 Sr from the Western Coastal Plain was significantly smaller. For each region, we compared isotopic data for “recent” antlers, which overlap the bulk of standardized state and federal caribou monitoring (early 1980s and younger), with “historical” antlers shed in years predating these records (from the 1300s to the 1970s). For Porcupine Herd females calving in the Arctic Refuge, comparisons of antler 87 Sr/ 86 Sr through time indicate that summer ranges have been consistent since at least the 1960s. However, changes between historical and recent antler 87 Sr/ 86 Sr for the Central Arctic Herd indicate a shift in summer landscape use after the late 1970s. The timing of this shift is coincident with multiple factors including increased infrastructural development in their range related to hydrocarbon extraction. Accumulations of shed caribou antlers and their isotope geochemistry extend modern datasets by decades to centuries and provide valuable baseline data for evaluating potential anthropogenic and other influences on caribou migration and landscape use. |
author2 |
National Geographic Society The Wildlife Society |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Miller, Joshua H. Crowley, Brooke E. Bataille, Clément P. Wald, Eric J. Kelly, Abigail Gaetano, Madison Bahn, Volker Druckenmiller, Patrick |
author_facet |
Miller, Joshua H. Crowley, Brooke E. Bataille, Clément P. Wald, Eric J. Kelly, Abigail Gaetano, Madison Bahn, Volker Druckenmiller, Patrick |
author_sort |
Miller, Joshua H. |
title |
Historical Landscape Use of Migratory Caribou: New Insights From Old Antlers |
title_short |
Historical Landscape Use of Migratory Caribou: New Insights From Old Antlers |
title_full |
Historical Landscape Use of Migratory Caribou: New Insights From Old Antlers |
title_fullStr |
Historical Landscape Use of Migratory Caribou: New Insights From Old Antlers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Historical Landscape Use of Migratory Caribou: New Insights From Old Antlers |
title_sort |
historical landscape use of migratory caribou: new insights from old antlers |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.590837 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2020.590837/full |
genre |
Arctic Rangifer tarandus Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Rangifer tarandus Alaska |
op_source |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution volume 8 ISSN 2296-701X |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.590837 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
8 |
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1797577104240410624 |