Spatial structure of boreal woodland caribou populations in northwest Canada
Local population units (LPUs) were delineated in Canada’s recovery strategy for threatened boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). Population viability analyses central to contemporary integrated risk assessments of LPUs implicitly assume geographic closure. Several LPUs in northwest Ca...
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2020
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6a0d35978fef49d8b2cee571ea8c8c27 2023-05-15T15:53:28+02:00 Spatial structure of boreal woodland caribou populations in northwest Canada Steve Wilson Glenn Sutherland Nicholas Larter Allicia Kelly Ashley McLaren James Hodson Troy Hegel Robin Steenweg Dave Hervieux Tom Nudds 2020-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7557/2.40.1.4902 https://doaj.org/article/6a0d35978fef49d8b2cee571ea8c8c27 EN eng Septentrio Academic Publishing https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/4902 https://doaj.org/toc/1890-6729 doi:10.7557/2.40.1.4902 1890-6729 https://doaj.org/article/6a0d35978fef49d8b2cee571ea8c8c27 Rangifer, Vol 40, Iss 1 (2020) Animal culture SF1-1100 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7557/2.40.1.4902 2022-12-31T07:13:40Z Local population units (LPUs) were delineated in Canada’s recovery strategy for threatened boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). Population viability analyses central to contemporary integrated risk assessments of LPUs implicitly assume geographic closure. Several LPUs in northwest Canada, however, were in part delineated by geopolitical boundaries and/or included large areas in the absence of evidence of more finely resolved population spatial structure. We pooled >1.2 million locations from >1200 GPS or VHF-collared caribou from northeast British Columbia, northwest Alberta and southwestern Northwest Territories. Bayesian cluster analysis generated 10 alternative candidate LPUs based on a spatial cluster graph of the extent of pairwise co-occurrence of collared caribou. Up to four groups may be artifacts in as yet under-sampled areas. Four were mapped LPUs that were conserved (Prophet, Parker, Chinchaga and Red Earth). One small group between Parker and Snake-Sahtaneh known locally as the “Fort Nelson core,” and outside any mapped LPU, was also conserved. Finally, one large group, at >136000 km2, spanned all three jurisdictions and subsumed all of six delineated LPUs (Maxhamish, Snake-Sahtaneh, Calendar, Bistcho, Yates, Caribou Mountains) and part of southern Northwest Territories. These results suggest less geographic closure of LPUs than those currently delineated, but further analyses will be required to better reconcile various sources of knowledge about local population structure in this region. Article in Journal/Newspaper caribou Fort Nelson Northwest Territories Rangifer Rangifer tarandus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Northwest Territories Canada British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) Fort Nelson ENVELOPE(-122.700,-122.700,58.805,58.805) Caribou Mountains ENVELOPE(-115.669,-115.669,59.200,59.200) Red Earth ENVELOPE(-115.267,-115.267,56.533,56.533) Rangifer 40 1 1 14 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal culture SF1-1100 |
spellingShingle |
Animal culture SF1-1100 Steve Wilson Glenn Sutherland Nicholas Larter Allicia Kelly Ashley McLaren James Hodson Troy Hegel Robin Steenweg Dave Hervieux Tom Nudds Spatial structure of boreal woodland caribou populations in northwest Canada |
topic_facet |
Animal culture SF1-1100 |
description |
Local population units (LPUs) were delineated in Canada’s recovery strategy for threatened boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). Population viability analyses central to contemporary integrated risk assessments of LPUs implicitly assume geographic closure. Several LPUs in northwest Canada, however, were in part delineated by geopolitical boundaries and/or included large areas in the absence of evidence of more finely resolved population spatial structure. We pooled >1.2 million locations from >1200 GPS or VHF-collared caribou from northeast British Columbia, northwest Alberta and southwestern Northwest Territories. Bayesian cluster analysis generated 10 alternative candidate LPUs based on a spatial cluster graph of the extent of pairwise co-occurrence of collared caribou. Up to four groups may be artifacts in as yet under-sampled areas. Four were mapped LPUs that were conserved (Prophet, Parker, Chinchaga and Red Earth). One small group between Parker and Snake-Sahtaneh known locally as the “Fort Nelson core,” and outside any mapped LPU, was also conserved. Finally, one large group, at >136000 km2, spanned all three jurisdictions and subsumed all of six delineated LPUs (Maxhamish, Snake-Sahtaneh, Calendar, Bistcho, Yates, Caribou Mountains) and part of southern Northwest Territories. These results suggest less geographic closure of LPUs than those currently delineated, but further analyses will be required to better reconcile various sources of knowledge about local population structure in this region. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Steve Wilson Glenn Sutherland Nicholas Larter Allicia Kelly Ashley McLaren James Hodson Troy Hegel Robin Steenweg Dave Hervieux Tom Nudds |
author_facet |
Steve Wilson Glenn Sutherland Nicholas Larter Allicia Kelly Ashley McLaren James Hodson Troy Hegel Robin Steenweg Dave Hervieux Tom Nudds |
author_sort |
Steve Wilson |
title |
Spatial structure of boreal woodland caribou populations in northwest Canada |
title_short |
Spatial structure of boreal woodland caribou populations in northwest Canada |
title_full |
Spatial structure of boreal woodland caribou populations in northwest Canada |
title_fullStr |
Spatial structure of boreal woodland caribou populations in northwest Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatial structure of boreal woodland caribou populations in northwest Canada |
title_sort |
spatial structure of boreal woodland caribou populations in northwest canada |
publisher |
Septentrio Academic Publishing |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7557/2.40.1.4902 https://doaj.org/article/6a0d35978fef49d8b2cee571ea8c8c27 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) ENVELOPE(-122.700,-122.700,58.805,58.805) ENVELOPE(-115.669,-115.669,59.200,59.200) ENVELOPE(-115.267,-115.267,56.533,56.533) |
geographic |
Northwest Territories Canada British Columbia Fort Nelson Caribou Mountains Red Earth |
geographic_facet |
Northwest Territories Canada British Columbia Fort Nelson Caribou Mountains Red Earth |
genre |
caribou Fort Nelson Northwest Territories Rangifer Rangifer tarandus |
genre_facet |
caribou Fort Nelson Northwest Territories Rangifer Rangifer tarandus |
op_source |
Rangifer, Vol 40, Iss 1 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/4902 https://doaj.org/toc/1890-6729 doi:10.7557/2.40.1.4902 1890-6729 https://doaj.org/article/6a0d35978fef49d8b2cee571ea8c8c27 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7557/2.40.1.4902 |
container_title |
Rangifer |
container_volume |
40 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
14 |
_version_ |
1766388575248580608 |