Functional Changes to the Slate Islands Provincial Park Ecosystem with Successive Arrival of Wolves, Canis lupus, from the Lake Superior Coast

Observations from 1974-2016 of Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) on the archipelago that comprises Slate Islands Provincial Park allowed us to infer direct and indirect effects of the arrival of Wolf (Canis lupus) pairs in winters of 1993-94 and 2003-04. Wolves created conditions that led to the near demi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Canadian Field-Naturalist
Main Authors: Bergerud, Arthur T., McLaren, Brian E., Dalton, William, Camps, Lo, Butler, Heather, Ferguson, Rodger S.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: The Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club 2021
Subjects:
American Beaver
Canis lupus
Caribou
Castor canadensis
Gray Wolf
Lepus americanus
Rangifer tarandus
Red Fox
Slate Islands Provincial Park
Snowshoe Hare
Vulpes vulpes
gray wolf
Online Access:https://www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cfn/article/view/1964
https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v134i4.1964
Description
Summary:Observations from 1974-2016 of Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) on the archipelago that comprises Slate Islands Provincial Park allowed us to infer direct and indirect effects of the arrival of Wolf (Canis lupus) pairs in winters of 1993-94 and 2003-04. Wolves created conditions that led to the near demise of Caribou from the islands, including some, but not all, behavioural changes in Caribou consistent with avoiding predators. Caribou on SIPP did not appear to return to calving locations near shoreline areas, nor use them to escape from Wolves by entering water. Shorelines and locations of Patterson Island near a Wolf-occupied Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) den were the most common Caribou kill locations. Wolves also functionally shifted the ecosystem in Slate Islands Provincial Park via direct and indirect effects on North American Beavers (Castor canadensis), Red Foxes and Snowshoe Hares (Lepus americanus).

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