Science to inform policy: linking population dynamics to habitat for a threatened species in Canada ...

• Main Authors: Johnson, Cheryl, Sutherland, Glenn, Neave, Erin, Leblond, Mathieu, Kirby, Patrick, Superbie, Clara, McLoughlin, Philip
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2020
• Subjects: species at risk; wildfire; Woodland caribou; Canada; Rangifer tarandus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tx95x69tq; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.tx95x69tq

Abstract 1. Boreal forests provide numerous ecological services, including the ability to store large amounts of carbon, and are of significance to global biodiversity. Increases in industrial activities in boreal landscapes since the mid-20th century have added to concerns over biodiversity loss and climate change. Boreal forests are home to dwindling populations of boreal caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in Canada, a species at risk that requires large, undisturbed landscapes for persistence. In 2012, the Canadian government defined critical habitat for boreal caribou by relating calf recruitment to disturbances. Some have questioned whether the recruitment-relationship can be extrapolated beyond the environmental conditions represented in the analysis. 2. We examined the effects of human disturbances and fire (alone and in combination) on variation in recruitment and adult female survival using data from 58 study areas in Canada. Top models were used in aspatial scenarios of landscape change to ... : Estimates of disturbance were calculated for 58 study areas with demographic data on boreal caribou. We derived estimates of anthropogenic disturbances, buffered by 500 m, from maps prepared by Environment and Climate Change Canada (Environment Canada, 2011; Pasher et al., 2013; Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2018). Provincial and territorial jurisdictions provided the fire data. Fire disturbance was characterized as unbuffered areas burnt 40 years prior to the first year of available demographic data used in the analyses. ...