Woodland Caribou demographic data and range boundaries ...

• Main Authors: DeMars, Craig, Boutin, Stan, Serrouya, Robert, Gilbert, Sophie, Kelly, Allicia, Larter, Nicholas, Hervieux, Dave
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2021
• Subjects: FOS Biological sciences; British Columbia; Canada; Caribou Range; Meier; Northwest Territories; Rangifer tarandus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.stqjq2c3g; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.stqjq2c3g

As global climate change progresses, wildlife management will benefit from knowledge of demographic responses to climatic variation, particularly for species already endangered by other stressors. In Canada, climate change is expected to increasingly impact populations of threatened woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) and much focus has been placed on how a warming climate has potentially facilitated the northward expansion of apparent competitors and novel predators. Climate change, however, may also exert more direct effects on caribou populations that are not mediated by predation. These effects include meteorological changes that influence resource availability and energy expenditure. Research on other ungulates suggests that climatic variation may have minimal impact on low-density populations such as woodland caribou because per-capita resources may remain sufficient even in “bad” years. We evaluated this prediction using demographic data from 21 populations in western Canada that were ... : Demographic data from woodland caribou were provided by the governments of Alberta, British Columbia, and Northwest Territories. Calves: adult female ratios (CAF) were estimated from aerial surveys conducted in March. These surveys recorded the total number of calves and adult females observed (mean = 147.3 adult females observed/caribou range/year [range: 11–1288]). CAF ratios were not adjusted to reflect the number of female calves to the total number of females across all age classes. Annual estimates of adult female survival (AVS) were derived from data collected from VHF- or GPS-collared adult females (≥2 years old; exact ages on capture are unknown) in each caribou population . For VHF-collared females, survival status was determined by aerial telemetry flights conducted 4–12 times per year, a monitoring frequency found to produce unbiased survival estimates. Annual rates of AFS for each population were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method in a staggered entry design. Also provided is a shapefile ...