Exposure to historical burn rates shapes the response of boreal caribou to timber harvesting
Abstract Studying the response of wildlife to anthropogenic disturbances in light of their evolutionary history may help explain their capacity to adapt to novel ecological conditions. In the North American boreal forest, wildfire has been the main natural disturbance driving ecosystem dynamics for...
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crwiley:10.1002/ecs2.2739 2024-06-02T08:13:39+00:00 Exposure to historical burn rates shapes the response of boreal caribou to timber harvesting Lafontaine, Alexandre Drapeau, Pierre Fortin, Daniel Gauthier, Sylvie Boulanger, Yan St‐Laurent, Martin‐Hugues Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Nature et Technologies Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs Canadian Wildlife Federation Université du Québec à Rimouski 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2739 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2739 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ecs2.2739 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2739 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Ecosphere volume 10, issue 5 ISSN 2150-8925 2150-8925 journal-article 2019 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2739 2024-05-06T07:05:12Z Abstract Studying the response of wildlife to anthropogenic disturbances in light of their evolutionary history may help explain their capacity to adapt to novel ecological conditions. In the North American boreal forest, wildfire has been the main natural disturbance driving ecosystem dynamics for thousands of years. Boreal caribou ( Rangifer tarandus caribou ) is a threatened ungulate for which widespread decline has been associated with the rapid expansion of timber harvesting across its range. Although caribou may not be adapted to this new type of disturbance, cutovers share many similarities with wildfires by producing large landscapes of whole‐stand removal associated with an increased predation risk for caribou. We hypothesized that caribou with more evolutionary experience of fire disturbance should better perceive the cues associated with disturbances and adjust their behavior toward human disturbance accordingly. Given the extensive distribution of caribou populations in the boreal forest, we assessed how their historical exposure to wildfires could explain their behavioral response toward both burned and cutover areas. Our results indicate that caribou from regions with high historical burn rates displayed a consistent avoidance of recent burns (<5 yr old), and that this behavior translated in a similar avoidance of recent cutover, providing support to the cue similarity hypothesis. On the contrary, caribou with less evolutionary experience of wildfires were more likely to select recently disturbed (<5 yr‐old and 6–20 yr‐old) habitats. In the context that timber harvesting and its associated road network has been linked to increased mortality in boreal caribou populations, we discuss how this naïve habitat use of clearcuts can be exacerbated by historical disturbance regimes and become maladaptive for this endangered species. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rangifer tarandus Wiley Online Library Ecosphere 10 5 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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English |
description |
Abstract Studying the response of wildlife to anthropogenic disturbances in light of their evolutionary history may help explain their capacity to adapt to novel ecological conditions. In the North American boreal forest, wildfire has been the main natural disturbance driving ecosystem dynamics for thousands of years. Boreal caribou ( Rangifer tarandus caribou ) is a threatened ungulate for which widespread decline has been associated with the rapid expansion of timber harvesting across its range. Although caribou may not be adapted to this new type of disturbance, cutovers share many similarities with wildfires by producing large landscapes of whole‐stand removal associated with an increased predation risk for caribou. We hypothesized that caribou with more evolutionary experience of fire disturbance should better perceive the cues associated with disturbances and adjust their behavior toward human disturbance accordingly. Given the extensive distribution of caribou populations in the boreal forest, we assessed how their historical exposure to wildfires could explain their behavioral response toward both burned and cutover areas. Our results indicate that caribou from regions with high historical burn rates displayed a consistent avoidance of recent burns (<5 yr old), and that this behavior translated in a similar avoidance of recent cutover, providing support to the cue similarity hypothesis. On the contrary, caribou with less evolutionary experience of wildfires were more likely to select recently disturbed (<5 yr‐old and 6–20 yr‐old) habitats. In the context that timber harvesting and its associated road network has been linked to increased mortality in boreal caribou populations, we discuss how this naïve habitat use of clearcuts can be exacerbated by historical disturbance regimes and become maladaptive for this endangered species. |
author2 |
Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Nature et Technologies Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs Canadian Wildlife Federation Université du Québec à Rimouski |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lafontaine, Alexandre Drapeau, Pierre Fortin, Daniel Gauthier, Sylvie Boulanger, Yan St‐Laurent, Martin‐Hugues |
spellingShingle |
Lafontaine, Alexandre Drapeau, Pierre Fortin, Daniel Gauthier, Sylvie Boulanger, Yan St‐Laurent, Martin‐Hugues Exposure to historical burn rates shapes the response of boreal caribou to timber harvesting |
author_facet |
Lafontaine, Alexandre Drapeau, Pierre Fortin, Daniel Gauthier, Sylvie Boulanger, Yan St‐Laurent, Martin‐Hugues |
author_sort |
Lafontaine, Alexandre |
title |
Exposure to historical burn rates shapes the response of boreal caribou to timber harvesting |
title_short |
Exposure to historical burn rates shapes the response of boreal caribou to timber harvesting |
title_full |
Exposure to historical burn rates shapes the response of boreal caribou to timber harvesting |
title_fullStr |
Exposure to historical burn rates shapes the response of boreal caribou to timber harvesting |
title_full_unstemmed |
Exposure to historical burn rates shapes the response of boreal caribou to timber harvesting |
title_sort |
exposure to historical burn rates shapes the response of boreal caribou to timber harvesting |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2739 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2739 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ecs2.2739 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2739 |
genre |
Rangifer tarandus |
genre_facet |
Rangifer tarandus |
op_source |
Ecosphere volume 10, issue 5 ISSN 2150-8925 2150-8925 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2739 |
container_title |
Ecosphere |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
5 |
_version_ |
1800737222794674176 |